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One morning at the Fairy Tail Guild, Wendy was looking at the job board.
"How strange, not a lot of jobs today," she said.
"Yes, it is rather quiet, isn't it?" Carla observed. Wendy gave a sigh and was about to leave the board when she felt somebody tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see it was Macao Conbolt, fourth master of Fairy Tail.
"Hello, Mr. Conbolt, is there something you need?" asked Wendy.
"Actually, there is," said Macao, "and it concerns my son Romeo: lately, he's been disappearing at random times every day."
"That's no big deal, he's most likely taking on jobs alone," said Wendy, trying to reassure Macao.
"I thought the same, too, at first, but I never saw him approach the job request board. And whenever I ask him about it, he either ignores me or says it's not my business. One time, he even called me a perverted old drunk!"
"Well, it's not like he's wrong," Lucy muttered from nearby.
"Thus, I have to ask you: Wendy Marvell, will you please follow Romeo and find out where he goes?"
"M-M-M-ME?!" Wendy's face went red when she heard this. "But why me? Why not Natsu? My tracking skills aren't as good as his. A-a-and besides, I don't believe it's right to stalk somebody."
"I already tried Natsu, but Romeo didn't tell him anything either, and somehow managed to give him the slip. Natsu, his idol! I don't understand why he wouldn't tell him anything! This whole world has gone crackers; nothing makes sense anymore! Please, Wendy: you're my only hope left. If I don't find out where my boy is going, I'll have a heart attack worrying he could be in danger!"
"I don't think it'll come to that: Romeo is a strong boy. He knows what to watch out for." Wendy saw this hadn't convinced Macao, who was now beginning to form tears in his eyes. Wendy had a hard time ignoring somebody who was crying. "Ok, Mr. Conbolt, I won't stalk Romeo, but I will talk to him, that's all I can do."
"Thank you, Wendy, I owe you for this."
Macao walked off before Wendy could reply.
"Where is Romeo right now anyway?" Wendy asked, looking around. She saw Gajeel and Elfman arm-wrestling at one table, Levy discussing a book with Lucy at another, Natsu and Gray passed out, presumably by Erza, who was eating cake, but nowhere could she see Romeo. It wasn't until she looked over to the leftmost corner that she spotted the boy, sitting alone, and he seemed to be looking at something. What it was, she couldn't tell, nor could she help but wonder why he was sitting all alone instead of being near Natsu. Nonetheless, she walked over to him.
"Hello, Romeo," she said. Romeo jumped when he heard his name being called. He turned around, only to spot Wendy looking at him.
"Oh, uh, h-h-h-hey, W-W-Wendy," he stammered, blushing and hiding whatever he was holding behind his back. This didn't escape Wendy's notice.
"Romeo, what are you hiding?" she asked.
"What? Oh, nothing, nothing at all."
"Nothing? Well then, would you please show me both your hands?"
"Why would I do that? There's no need to show you both of my hands."
"Romeo, don't lie to me," said Wendy firmly, "you're hiding something, and I can tell by your actions. Now stop trying to lie and show me what it is."
Wendy tried to get a good view of what Romeo was hiding behind his back, but he kept stepping to ensure she wouldn't. They went like this for a while until Wendy tripped. Romeo tried to catch her, but both found themselves tumbling onto the floor!
"OW!" Wendy groaned.
"Um, Wendy, are you ok?" Romeo asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, what about…" She trailed off: as a result of their trip, she had pushed Romeo onto his back with her on top, and they were now staring into each other's eyes, a blush visible on Romeo's face. Wendy felt her cheeks burning as well. The two stared at each other for a long time until…
"Are you planning to get up anytime soon?" asked Carla.
It was then that Wendy snapped out of her trance.
"I-I-I'm so sorry, Romeo!" she called, getting off and helping him stand.
"It-It's ok!" stammered Romeo. "To be honest, I didn't really mind." He chuckled nervously, putting a hand on his head. In the process, Wendy spotted something. To her, it looked like a yellow disc of some kind.
"Um, Romeo, what's that in your hand?" she asked. Romeo realised what was going on and immediately tried to hide what he'd been holding.
"Trust me, Wendy, it's nothing, just…YIPE!" He was interrupted by Wendy grabbing his scarf and dragging him closer until their foreheads were touching. She grabbed his cheeks and glared at him.
"Listen, Romeo, I don't know why you're being so secretive, but you don't need to hide anything from me. I was asked to follow you by your dad, but I'm speaking to you directly. If you don't want him to know, then you can tell me, and I won't tell your father, but please inform me of what's going on."
Romeo stared at her for a bit: to be honest, he felt embarrassed to have his face so close to hers, but the glare she gave him made it clear she was determined to find out what he was hiding. It was only a few minutes, but to Romeo it felt like hours before he sighed.
"Alright, Wendy, listen: I can't tell you what's going on, and I mean that: I was ordered to do so for the safety of the world. But if you really want to know, I can show you. Does that sound fair?"
Wendy pulled away from him, then smiled.
"Alright, Romeo, lead the way," she said. Romeo proceeded to lead Wendy out of the Guild Hall, with Carla following behind.
"You better not be doing anything inappropriate," she warned.
The other guild members, meanwhile, saw this and couldn't help but become excited.
As they walked, Wendy couldn't help but watch as Romeo took out the yellow thing and opened it up. She saw it was black inside and had some sort of grey thing on the bottom, which Romeo was able to press. The other half had something blue in the middle, of which letters appeared whenever Romeo pushed on the grey thing.
"What are you doing?" asked Wendy.
"Letting the others know you're coming," Romeo answered, "that way, they won't be surprised when you show up."
"Others? What others?" asked Carla.
"I'm not the only one in this situation," Romeo responded, "there are a few other…people, let's say, involved in what's going on."
"Why on Earth would you get involved with people you don't know? That sounds dangerous to me," said Carla.
"Actually, they got involved with me," Romeo replied.
"Really? What do you mean?" asked Wendy.
"Well, one of them approached me one day and, uh…" Romeo paused, seemingly unsure what to say.
"Is everything ok?" asked Wendy.
"Yes, everything's fine," Romeo replied as he finished pushing and closed the object. Wendy decided to change the subject.
"Where exactly are we going?" she asked.
"A siding in Magnolia Railyard," answered Romeo.
"The railyard? But why would you go there? Aren't those places dangerous?" asked Wendy.
"Well, yes, but one of the guys is, shall we say, attached to the rails. It's very difficult to explain, you'll see when we arrive."
"I really don't like all this secrecy," said Carla.
"And you think I do? Look, Carla," said Romeo, "there's a reason for all this secrecy: if word got out about all this, everybody would be in a panic. There would be chaos…"
"Chaos? Really? We face that nearly every day," Carla interrupted.
"This chaos is different," said Romeo.
"Different? How is it different?" asked Wendy.
Romeo didn't respond: he seemed to be deep in thought. It wasn't long before they arrived at Magnolia Railyard.
"Ok, here we are," said Romeo. "Now, where is it we're supposed to be meeting?"
"YO ROMEO, OVER HERE!" a loud voice called. It belonged to a tall, large, muscular, bald dark-skinned man who seemed to be covered in what looked like odd-looking armour plating, with a red light replacing one of the eyes. He was standing next to a freight shed.
"Cyborg! We'll be right over!" Romeo called. He then reached into his backpack and pulled out some high-visibility vests. "Wendy, put this on: it's required by law for people to wear this so you can be seen easily."
"Ok," said Wendy, "though I still find a railyard of all places to be an odd meeting place."
"And where's my vest?" asked Carla.
"You don't need one: it's required by law for people, not exceeds."
"Wow! How comforting," said Carla sarcastically. After putting on the vests, the three ran over to the man. As they got closer, Wendy could see that this man wasn't wearing armour at all: instead, his entire body was covered in metallic parts. It reminded Wendy of the Jackpot Bot, as well as golems she'd read about in Sorcerer Weekly.
"Wow, Romeo, when you said you were bringing somebody over, I didn't expect it to be a little cutie with blue hair."
Wendy blushed when she heard this.
"Um, well, thank you, Mister, um…what's your name?"
"Just call me Cyborg, that's what everybody else calls me. And what's your name?"
"My name is Wendy Marvell, and this is Carla, she's an exceed. It's nice to meet you, Cyborg."
"Same to you, Wendy. Say, Marvell, that name sounds familiar somehow."
"Ok, whatever you're trying to say, I'm sure it can wait," said Romeo.
"What's the hurry? You got a date with your girlfriend?" asked Cyborg. Both Wendy and Romeo blushed when they heard this, while Carla gave Cyborg a glare.
"I-I-I-IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Romeo and Wendy shouted simultaneously.
"Relax, I'm joking!" Cyborg laughed. "Besides, you know the rules: we can't be briefed until everybody is here. And Thomas is still out and about." Almost on cue, a "Peep peep" was heard. "Ah, speak of the devil! Here he comes now!"
"How'd your run go, Thomas?" asked Romeo, as a steam engine came to a stop.
"Went well enough," said an unfamiliar voice. "Would've been back sooner, but I had to stop for water on the way."
Wendy turned around to see who Romeo was talking to and gasped in surprise: there, standing on the line, was a blue tank engine with six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome. But this wasn't what shocked her: she was surprised because instead of a smokebox door, this engine had a grey face!
"Hey, what's the matter? Is there ash on my face?" asked the engine.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?! D-D-DID THAT TRAIN JUST TALK?!"
"Ok, two things, young lady. First off, I'm not a train, I'm a locomotive, a tank engine to be exact: a train is made up of a locomotive pulling carriages or trucks. Secondly, are you really surprised I'm able to talk? For crying out loud, magic is a thing in this world. Romeo's able to make flames appear out of nowhere, Cyborg's part robot, hell, that white cat there is standing on two legs."
"I'm not a cat, I'm an exceed," said Carla.
"Oh, and she can talk too, how shocking," said the engine, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I'd totally be surprised to see a talking locomotive too if I lived with a talking feline."
"Watch your attitude, mister!" scolded Carla.
"The name's Thomas, not Mister. And you're one to talk, acting all high and mighty. God, you sound like my driver's girlfriend."
"Hey!"
"Come on, Robert, you can't deny it: how many times has she made you use me to cook food just because her stove broke?"
"Oh, so I'm not allowed to do good deeds for my beloved?" asked the man in Thomas' cab.
"She's using you, man: her stove can't be broken all the time," retorted Thomas.
"Um, what's going on?" asked Wendy.
"Well," said Romeo, "Thomas here comes from another world."
"Oh! Like Edolas?" asked Wendy.
"Yes, like Edolas, only in his case, vehicles are capable of speech and thought."
"Wait, that's nice to know, but Romeo, it doesn't explain what they are doing here, or why they are here in the first place."
"Well, you see, Wendy, it's a little complicated, but, uh, his world ended up getting destroyed by some guy, and he was recruited to help stop the guy."
"Not just some guy," said Thomas, "a grey-skinned, laser-eyed egomaniac that calls himself a god - his name's Darkseid. He desires control, and I guess when he found Sudrians couldn't be controlled even with full power, he lost it and just wiped my home out. I seem to have been the only engine survivor, and I was recruited to help fight him by the Justice League. Not that I can do much: I may be anthropomorphic, but I can't move without a driver and fireman."
"How awful!"
"Yeah, but at least I'm doing something. Say, Wendy is it? Well, what's it like in Neverland?" asked Thomas with a grin.
"What's Neverland?" asked Wendy, feeling confused.
"You know, the place where children never have to grow up?" Thomas continued.
"Never grow up? Does that mean…" Wendy looked down at her chest and began crying, covering herself up.
"Ok, what's the big deal?" asked Thomas.
"Thomas, Wendy doesn't like being reminded of her chest size," Romeo explained.
"I still don't get what the big deal is," said Thomas. "I mean, I've seen plenty of people who have small chests, including men, and none of them have ever had a problem."
"Thomas," said Robert, "men don't have breasts."
"They don't? Huh. Well…" Thomas looked back to Wendy, who was now being hugged by Romeo. "Say, what are you capable of doing?" he asked.
"Well," said Wendy, "I'm able to heal. I can also harness the wind and can attack with wind magic."
"Wind magic, you say? Well you'll have no trouble blowing away the competition: you got the skills for it, after all, little Romeo here has mentioned you before. Something about wanting to impress a girl named Wendy."
"Impress me? Why would you want to impress me?" Wendy asked Romeo. Romeo looked away, his face turning red.
"I don't know what's redder: your face, your vest, Bertie the Bus, or James' paintwork," said Thomas with a playful tinge in his eyes.
"Ok, how on Earth is Romeo involved in all this?" asked Carla. "And why didn't you come to the rest of the guild?"
"Look, Carla, the Justice League sent me here," snorted Thomas. "I was ordered by them to find Natsu, which, when you think about it, is rather stupid, I mean, he gets motion sick just by thinking about transport - not to mention, he's an idiot. At the time, I didn't know anything about this place. I had to rely on signalmen to make sure I was going the right way, not rely on instinct like Gordon." Thomas chuckled, remembering. "He'd surely be upset if he heard me say that. Anyway, I met Romeo by coincidence while trying to figure out how to approach Natsu. We got to talking, I saw he wanted to do more, so I brought him over to the Justice League and asked them to give him training. He did so well, he ended up joining our cause."
"That doesn't explain why you didn't go to the guild!" Carla pointed out.
"Easy: no rails going there, genius," Thomas responded. "No engine can turn without rails to run on."
"And after recruiting Romeo? You could've had him…"
"Ok, ok, both of you, settle down," said Romeo, "we were instructed by the Justice League not to tell anybody: if we did, there would be worldwide panic."
"Who is the Justice League?" asked Wendy.
"A group of superheroes," Thomas answered.
"Hey, speaking of Justice League," said Cyborg, "I'm getting a call right now."
"AHH! Where did you come from?" yelled out the entire group at once.
"Been watching you three the whole time, or were you so busy you forgot I was here?"
"I guess the second one," Thomas replied.
"Right, well, I've just received a call from Superman. He needs to speak to all of us." He stretched out an arm and pushed a button, from which a holographic projection appeared.
On it was a large and well-built man; he had a muscular frame and looked to be in peak physical condition, but his face held a warm smile, and an aura of hope radiated off of him. But what was the most distinguishing part about him was his suit.
It was extremely simple, made up of a red cape, a blue shirt, blue pants, and red boots, oh, and also red underwear. In the middle of the shirt was a large yellow shield with a big red S in the middle.
"Greetings, Crisis Squad," he said, before glancing at Wendy, "and I assume this is the somebody you said you were bringing along, Romeo."
"Yes, she is," said Romeo.
"My name is Wendy Marvell, and this is Carla, my partner and an exceed."
"Pleasure to meet you, Wendy. Just call me Superman. You might actually be useful. Tell me: what are your abilities exactly?"
"I can heal people, enhance speed and strength with enchantments, unleash devastating wind attacks with my Sky Dragon Slayer abilities, and am able to sense air currents."
"Whoa whoa whoa, WHOA! Time out! Wendy, did you just say you're a dragon slayer?!" asked Thomas, astonished.
"I most certainly did," Wendy replied.
"And yet, you've yet to puke," observed Thomas.
"I don't get motion sickness like the other Dragon Slayers, at least not yet," Wendy responded. Thomas's eye twitched, then turned to Superman with a scowl.
"Ok, Clark, why didn't Bruce have me recruit her instead of Natsu? She'd be ten times easier. Not to mention, the fact she doesn't get motion sick. What on Earth was Bruce thinking?!"
"I'll ask him when I get the chance to, Thomas," Superman responded, "but right now, he's currently looking for signs of Darkseid's presence in other worlds."
"Hang on, why did you call him Clark?" asked Carla.
Thomas looked from side-to-side before answering, staring at the man called Clark while sweating bullets.
The man named Clark simply sighed exasperatedly and gave a small nod to the train.
"It's his secret identity," said Thomas, "all superheroes need a secret identity."
"Yes, it's true: none of us want the pressure of being super all the time. Do you have any idea how exhausting hero work gets? Plus, what I deal with is nothing compared to the sheer amount of criminals Bats has to take care of."
"Tell me about it," said Thomas.
Wendy, meanwhile, couldn't help but blurt out, "If I join this team, do I get a superhero name as well?"
Carla looked at her with an unamused look, but just as she was about to speak, a loud laugh from the hologram interrupted her.
"I very much doubt you'll need to hide your identity, but you are more than welcome to pick one anyway," said Superman. "Although," he added, turning to Romeo, "I very much doubt Romeo would want you to hide yourself from him."
Romeo went red when he heard this, while Wendy just looked confused.
"Why wouldn't you want me to hide myself from you?" she asked.
"It's because you are my friend and guildmate, no friend of mine should need to hide themselves from me," he said, turning away so Wendy couldn't see his blush.
"Surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre it is," teased Thomas, "not some other reason like wanting her to…"
"SHUT UP, THOMAS!" Romeo shouted.
"I don't get what the big deal is," said Thomas, "you said it yourself, you wanted to impress her."
"Ok, as much as I'm enjoying this little spat," said Superman, "we do have business we need to discuss."
"What's the problem, Clark?" asked Thomas.
"There have been reports of Darkseid's parademons attacking Oshibana. We need you all to head on over there and stop them."
"Will do, Supes," said Cyborg, "you can count on us."
"We won't let you down," said Thomas.
"Leave it to me," exclaimed Romeo.
"I'll help as well," squeaked out Wendy, "I'm not as strong as everybody else here, but I will do what I can to help: I won't let Oshibana fall to parademons, umm, what are parademons exactly by the way?"
"Minions of Darkseid," Romeo answered, "they were created by him as well. He captures people and uses their DNA to make them."
"Oh my! How could he do such things?!" exclaimed Wendy.
"Because he's a monster," Thomas replied, "monsters don't care who they harm so long as they get what they want. I'm sure you met many monsters yourself, Wendy: after all, you are a dragon slayer."
"Honestly, Thomas, are you trying to traumatise the child?" asked Carla.
"Child?! She's twelve years old, one year away from being a teenager!" Thomas snorted. "And besides, you can't sugarcoat everything: people need to know about these things. And Wendy slays dragons, she should know what that's like."
"Actually, I've never slayed a dragon," Wendy admitted, her head dropping low. Thomas looked at her, confused.
"Then why are you and Natsu considered dragon slayers?" he asked with his brows furrowed slightly.
"He and I were both trained by dragons to utilize dragon slayer magic," Wendy answered.
"You're telling me dragons in this world are suicidal? I've heard many legends about dragons from some of my crews, but none said anything about them being suicidal."
Wendy grew angry when she heard this.
"How dare you! Grandeeney would never consider committing suicide!" she shouted.
"Well, excuse me for pointing out the obvious!" scoffed Thomas. "A dragon teaching a person to slay them would be like me teaching a person to scrap me: suicide."
"Alright, settle down, you two," said Superman. "This mission requires you all to focus. And you can't do that when fighting each other."
And just as Thomas was about to say something, he was interrupted by Cyborg.
"Maybe we should get going: the more we fight, the more the parademons will take over Oshibana. I think we'll need Toad for this one."
"Yes, you certainly will: not everybody will be able to fit in Thomas' cab," agreed Superman.
"I fail to see how an amphibian will help with that solution," said Carla.
"Oh, Cyborg isn't referring to that kind of toad," said Thomas. Before Carla could ask what he meant, the tank engine steamed into the goods shed. He came back out with, to Wendy, what looked like a grey box with four wheels underneath. One end had a veranda, the roof and railings were white, and a large white G and W were painted on the side. The box looked at them and smiled. "Carla, Wendy, meet Toad, he's a brake van from the Great Western Railway. Toad, this is Wendy and Carla," introduced Thomas with a cheerful smile.
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Wendy and Miss Carla," said Toad.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Toad," Wendy said while doing a light bow. "Why are you called Toad?"
"It's more my telegraphic code, Miss Wendy," answered Toad, "the Great Western Railway used telegraphic codes for their stock. For example, milk wagons were referred to as siphons, and Gnat was used for Slip Coaches. They called all their brake vans toads. I just took it on as my official name when I met Mister Oliver and we went on the run from scrap. My official classification is AA21."
"All vehicles have a classification," Thomas put in. "For example, my pre-North Western railway, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, classified me as E2."
"Now that that's settled," said Superman, "I've some other business to take care of. And Wendy, I can tell from your face that you want to join us. You know, you can consider this as your application test. Cyborg will inform me on how you did and whether you passed. Good luck, team." And with that, the hologram shrank and disappeared.
"Right now that's settled, we'd best get me on a train going to Oshibana. Robert, could you please arrange something with the yardmaster?"
"I'm on it," said Robert. He climbed out of Thomas' cab and went over to the yardmaster's office.
"Is that really necessary?" asked Carla.
"You try running on the line without official clearance," Thomas responded. "Not only will you get in trouble with the law, you'll more likely than not get crashed into by another train."
"Mr. Thomas is right, Miss Carla," said Toad, "all trains must be accounted for. When Mr. Oliver, Miss Isabel, and I were making our escape to Sodor, Mr. Oliver's crew would always inform signalmen so they could set a path for us. Mr. Oliver would be more than happy to give you the full story, but for now, we must keep to regulations."
"I hope y'all packed enough supplies and money," said Cyborg, "it'll be a long journey, especially with Thomas at the front."
"He's not kidding," said Thomas, "my bunker can only carry 2.5 tonnes of coal, and my tanks can only carry 1,256 gallons of water. My branch line is 14 miles long, and I manage it alright, but the line to Oshibana is a much longer distance. And something tells me there aren't enough coal bunkers and water towers to keep me going the full journey."
"Quite pathetic, not being able to go so far," said Carla.
"Hey, my coal and water capacity are able to keep me going fine on my branch line," said Thomas, "which is saying a lot considering my 10 siblings and I were built for shunting, and they served that purpose well. But that's besides the point: at least this world still has coal and water: thanks to modernisation, nearly every coal and water facility for us steamers was demolished, Sodor and heritage railways being the sole exceptions. On the mainland, a steamer travelling on the mainline has to get water from fire engines."
"Uh, Mr. Thomas," said Toad, "your driver is returning right now."
The brake van was right: Robert had left the yardmaster's office and made his way over to the E2.
"I've managed to get us onto a goods train going to Oshibana," he said, "it'll be stopping at Onibus and Kunigi as well."
"Great! What wagons am I meant to take?" asked Thomas.
"Um, excuse me," Wendy called, "but why do you need specific wagons? Won't just any wagons do?"
"Well, certain wagons are suited for certain loads," said Thomas. "For example, tankers are used for carrying liquid loads, open wagons are useful for bulk loads like coal, and so on. As to why specific numbered wagons, well, it's all a bunch of gobbledygook I myself don't really understand. I'll tell you one thing, though: the trucks here are better than the ones at home; they cause nothing but trouble for us engines. I know from experience."
Robert quickly explained what wagons were needed. Thomas wasted no time and began shunting the required wagons.
"He seems to be good at what he's doing," Wendy observed.
"Mr. Thomas spent ten years as the station pilot at Vicarstown before receiving his branch line," Toad explained. "It's quite a story, but I don't think now is the time to tell it."
"Why would that be?" asked Carla.
"Hey, when the world's in danger," said Cyborg, "there's not really much time for storytelling."
Wendy watched as Thomas shunted each wagon without issue. By the time he finished, he had arranged a very long train. The E2 was eager to couple up, but Robert said, "Sorry, Thomas: all that shunting and you've run low on water. We'll need to refill before we can continue to Oshibana!"
"Bother!" huffed Thomas. "Right when parademons are attacking too!"
"Have you ever considered getting rebuilt with a tender?" asked Romeo.
"Certainly not! I like my tanks and bunker, thank you!"
As Thomas refilled on water, Wendy turned to Romeo.
"Is he always like that?" she asked.
"Only known him while here, I don't know what he's like on Sodor," Romeo answered.
"Mr. Thomas likes to keep to time, and hates it when he's late," Toad explained. "I mostly work with Mr. Douglas, but I've heard about him from some other engines. If you want, you can all climb in while we wait for Mr. Thomas to finish filling up: there's plenty of room inside me."
"Are you certain it's safe?" asked Carla. Toad was offended!
"Ms. Carla, I've been a brake van for many years! I know for a fact I'm perfectly safe! I manage to keep trucks in order whenever they misbehave! In fact, it's because of me that Mr. Oliver no longer has any trouble with trucks whenever he takes them out!"
"Really? What did you do?" asked Wendy.
"Let's just say I made sure to end disrespect." And with that, Toad said no more. Thomas returned soon after and coupled up to the train.
"Alright, people, get in Toad," he called, "and once all is ready, we'll set off for Oshibana."
"Shouldn't you be turned around?" asked Carla.
"Rubbish! I'm a tank engine, we tank engines don't need turntables: we can go fast without having to worry about our tenders derailing."
Carla was about to say more, but Wendy grabbed her paw and shook her head. Instead, they climbed aboard Toad.
And just like that, once the guard blew his whistle, the journey to Oshibana began.
When they arrived at Oshibana, Thomas looked around.
"No signs of parademons so far," he said, before turning to Robert. "Robert, could you please call Cyborg and ask him if his radar is sensing anything?"
"I'm on it," said Robert, and he picked up the communicator.
Inside Toad, Cyborg answered the call.
"Hello? Yes, I'll see what I can find." And with that, he went into his arm and began pushing some buttons. Wendy looked at him in awe.
"How are you doing that?" she asked.
"Following an accident," Cyborg explained, "many of my organs were replaced with cybernetics. This allows me to operate like a computer. You know those lacrimas you use? Well, computers are similar, only they're more electronic."
"Wow! That's amazing!" exclaimed Wendy. She felt something grab her wrist. Turning around, she saw Romeo was holding it, a scowl on his face, while his eyes seemed to have vanished into shadow. "Is something wrong, Romeo?" asked Wendy.
"We need to hurry," he said, and before Wendy could ask him why, he stood up and dragged her out of Toad. Carla, annoyed, flew after them.
"Say, what's the big hurry?" asked Toad when he saw them exit.
"Um, there's parademons nearby," Romeo said.
"How can you tell? I don't think Mr. Cyborg announced he'd detected any yet," Toad pointed out.
Romeo stumbled on his words, trying to think of another excuse. Luckily, he was saved by Wendy, who began sniffing.
"I'm smelling something, it smells like Natsu, but more…evil," she said. "Like sulphur and flames, and it's coming from the town square."
"Whoa! You can smell all the way there from here?!" asked Toad.
"We dragon slayers have exceptional senses," Wendy explained.
"That certainly explains why the league wanted a Dragon Slayer with us," said Thomas the Tank Engine. "Alright, Wendy, sniff them out, but be careful: parademons aren't the most intelligent beings out there, but they have great numbers. Romeo, have your fire attacks ready: they'll need to be distracted. I'll help distract them once I shunt Toad and these wagons away. Cyborg, prepare to blast them with your cannon. And Carla, is there anything you can do besides talking?"
"I'm able to fly," Carla answered.
"Then you best keep an eye on things from the air," Thomas said.
"Shouldn't I take Wendy with me?"
"I'd say yes, but right now, I don't think Romeo's in the mood to let go of Wendy's wrist," said Thomas cheekily. Hearing this, Romeo released Wendy's wrist, blushing.
"Um, sorry about that," he said.
"Is everything ok, Romeo?" Wendy asked. "You seem to be sick, your temperature keeps on rising randomly, are you sure you can fight properly?"
Romeo suddenly started sputtering and looked in the other direction and was trying to think of excuses.
But luckily for him, Cyborg, who was relatively silent, spoke up.
"Uhh, guys, you can have your fun later, we have company, and they're not the good kind."
He was right: a bunch of green reptilian monsters with yellow underbellies had made their appearance. Their mouths were full of razor-sharp teeth, they had yellow wings, and their eyes were covered by goggles.
"Are those…parademons?" asked Wendy.
"They most certainly are, Miss Wendy," Toad confirmed.
"And they're looking mighty hungry," said Cyborg, pointing one of his arms at them.
"Then it looks like it's battle time," said Thomas. "You four, get to attacking." And he blew his whistle. Some parademons turned to him, but the rest charged at the humans and Carla. Quickly, Romeo launched some purple fire onto the ground. Some of the parademons stepped in it and were unable to go any further. Cyborg then fired a beam out of his arm, obliterating those parademons.
"BOO-YAH!" he shouted.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" Wendy swung her arms around and launched a pair of whirlwinds at the parademons. Thomas was impressed!
"Whoa!" was all he could say. That was until he saw some parademons about to attack her. "Wendy, behind you!" he called. Luckily, Wendy managed to evade them just in time, giving those parademons a good kicking.
She then shouted, "Sky Dragon's Roar!", launching a tornado-like blast of air from her mouth.
"Purple whip!" Meanwhile, Romeo had created a rope of purple fire and launched it at some more paredemons, tying them up. No sooner had he done so, another group of parademons tried to jump him.
"Romeo, lookout!" Wendy shouted. Thanks to this, Romeo was able to evade them, and they all started brawling with each other.
"Thanks, Wendy," he said.
"You can thank me later, Romeo," said Wendy, "there are more parademons coming up!" Indeed there were. The two were now standing back-to-back as parademons began surrounding them.
"How will we be able to take care of all of these?" asked Romeo.
"Leave it to me!"
Carla flew in and grabbed Wendy, who then grabbed Romeo's waist. The exceed then proceeded to lift them out of the station.
"Alright, Cyborg, we best take them out before they start multiplying again," Thomas ordered. He then blew his whistle again. This caught the parademons' attention. Robert then opened his cylinder cocks and the E2 wheeshed steam. The parademons began running towards him. As soon as they approached, Cyborg leapt out from behind Thomas's bunker.
"Time to go back to para-hell!" he shouted, and he fired his cannon. All the parademons were immediately disintegrated into dust. "BOO-YAH!"
"Phew! Glad that's over," said Toad.
"For now, at least," said Thomas. "Ok, Carla, you can come down now: danger's passed. Oshibana is safe once more."
Carla proceeded to do so, releasing Wendy.
"Well, Wendy, I must say, you got quite the skill set," Thomas said.
"Oh, thank you," said Wendy.
"Right, time to call Superman," said Thomas.
"I'm on it." Cyborg pressed some buttons on his arm and the hologram appeared, Superman there once again.
"Was the mission a success?" he asked.
"Most definitely, Mr. Superman," said Toad.
"And how did Wendy do?"
"I'd say she performed spectacularly," said Cyborg, "managed to wipe them out with her whirlwinds. And she was able to sniff them out with her senses. In fact, I'm willing to bet she's the reason we managed to defeat them all."
"Um, I wouldn't exactly say that," said Wendy modestly.
"Absolute rot!" snapped Romeo. "Wendy, without you, I'd have been dogpiled by those monsters! You saved me from becoming reptile lunch!"
"Well, I'll say that's more than enough," said Superman. "Congratulations, Wendy Marvell and Carla, I hereby induct you into the Crisis Squad!"
"Wow! Thank you very much!" Wendy said, a wide smile on her face.
"-Epilogue-"
That evening, Romeo, Wendy, and Carla returned to the Guild Hall. While Romeo went to speak to Natsu about something, Macao immediately ran up to Wendy.
"Did you find out where Romeo's been going?" he asked.
"I did actually," said Wendy.
"So…"
"Sorry, Mr. Conbolt, can't tell you: it's a secret!" Wendy replied, smiling. Macao looked on in shock.
"WHAT?! But you promised you would tell me where he was going! Please, don't leave me in the dark!" Wendy ignored him and followed after Romeo.