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Chapter Text

Every citizen in Pontypandy was surprised at what had happened to them.

They had all been mysteriously teleported out of Pontypandy and into a mysterious room, with a lot of seats, and a table with a book in said room.

"Where are we, Uncle Sam?" Sarah asked.

"Beats me," Fireman Sam said.

"It's very spooky!" James said, hugging his dad's leg in fear.

"Don't worry, James." said Charlie, "I'm sure we'll be fine."

"It is very bizarre, though." said Lizzie Sparkes.

"Right, everyone." said Sgt Rose Ravani, "the first thing we should do is investigate the book on the table in this room."

She pointed to the table with the book on it.

Fireman Sam went up to said table with said book on it. He looked at the book. "Ah." he said. 

"What is it?" asked Norman Price, who had came up to see the book. 

"This book has your name on it, Norman." Fireman Sam said. he showed everyone the title of the book - 'Norman Runs Away'.

"Norman Runs Away?" said a very surprised Mike Flood. "That's an unusual name for a book."

Steele read what was on the back of it, then said, "Oh." 

"What, Steele?" asked Elvis.

"Apparently, Cridlington," Steele said, "This is a story about the 2009 film 'The Great Fire of Pontypandy'."

"The Great Fire of Pontypandy?" said Malcolm Williams.

"What was that?" asked Hannah.

Norman looked rather ashamed and quiet, as did Derek.

"Well," Penny began, to all those in Pontypandy who weren't there at the time of the 2009 film 'The Great Fire of Pontypandy', including Bella Lasagne, "for those of you who don't know about it, allow me to explain."

And she did.

"When Fireman Sam performed a super-heroic rescue at the lighthouse, he was awarded a special bravery medal and offered a new job in Newtown, as Station Officer on the new rapid response fire unit. But then a Pontypandy Pioneer scout trip resulted in Norman and Derek cooking sausages in the bushes, and it caused the enormous forest fire, which nearly burned Pontypandy down!" she said.

Everyone in Pontypandy who wasn't there at the time of the 2009 film 'The Great Fire of Pontypandy', including Bella Lasagne, all gasped.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" said Joe Sparkes.

"And 1 month later, we had a ceremony where Cridlington got a bravery medal like Sam did." Steele added.

"Wow!" said Peter. "Elvis, you have got to show me that sometime." he added to Elvis.

"Apparently," Steele went on, "Norman Price was severely punished for the fire that month before, but during the timelapse from when we found him out to the ceremony, he did something very shocking indeed."

"What's that?" Joe Sparkes immediately regretted asking when he saw Steele's face turn grim.

"Yeah, what did Norman do?" asked Malcolm Williams.

"Norman Price...." Steele paused impressively. "...ran away from home!"

AGAIN, Everyone in Pontypandy who wasn't there at the time of the 2009 film 'The Great Fire of Pontypandy', including Bella Lasagne, all gasped.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" said Joe Sparkes [AGAIN].

"And," Penny added, "he joined a gang of thugs!" 

Everyone in Pontypandy who wasn't there at the time of the 2009 film 'The Great Fire of Pontypandy', including Bella Lasagne, all gasped, for the 3rd time in this story.

"Oh my!" gasped Krystyna.

"And this," said Fireman Sam, opening the book, "is the story of how it happened. This is chapter 1 - 'Norman Runs Away'."

And with that, he read out the words that magically appeared on the pages of the book.

everyone sat on the seats and listened carefully.

'PREVIOUSLY, ON 'FIREMAN SAM: THE GREAT FIRE OF PONTYPANDY'...'

'"You made a campfire?!" said an outraged Station Officer Steele. "Oh... Norman Price, you've done it this time! Right, where's your mother!"'

'Dilys stepped up. "I'll make sure he's properly dealt with at home, Station Officer Steele!" She glared angrily at her son. "You naughty boy!"'

Dilys & Steele looked at each other, in both shock and worry, realizing how nasty they'd been that day to Norman.

'And indeed, Norman was.

'At Dilys' shop, Dilys was scolding Norman and Derek severely.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" Dilys shouted at her son. "HOW COULD YOU DISOBEY THE RULE OF NO CAMPFIRES IN THE FOREST?!"

"Well, it wasn't my fault!" Norman said defiantly. "Trevor wouldn't let us take the sandwiches you made! If he had, me and Derek wouldn't have had to take the sausages to the forest and make that campfire!"

"I knew i should never have suggested the survival skills badge." Trevor muttered to himself.

"WELL, HOW COME I SMELT SAUSAGES COOKING?!" Dilys snapped. "Oh, right; BECAUSE YOU AND DEREK HAD THE NERVE TO DISOBEY TREVOR AND FIREMAN SAM!" Her voice rose to a scream.

"But- but..." Norman stammered.

"BUT NOTHING!" Dilys shouted, now apparently furious. "Norman Stanley Price, you are grounded! Go to your room!"

everyone gasped.

"Harsh, eh?" said Moose Roberts to Tom Thomas.

'Norman and Derek were both gobsmacked. Dilys had never used his middle name when she was angry before. I suppose there's a first time for everything, huh?

Immediately after this, Norman broke down in tears. Needless to say, Dilys and Station Officer Steele were very unsympathetic. "Nobody loves me!" he howled. "I shall run away! I shall!" he said angrily. "You're all so horrid!"

everyone gasped, again.

"Norman Price couldn't be serious about running away!" said Lizzie Sparkes.

"He was serious that day." Derek said.

'Steele and Dilys were both shocked and offended at this. "Don't you dare speak to your mother like that, Norman Price!" Steele scolded.

"Shut up, you... you... PIG-FACE!" Norman yelled, making Station Officer Steele and Dilys gasp, quite shocked, insulted, and hurt.

"I cannot believe he called Station Officer Steele a pig-face!" said Ellie, who was gobsmacked, as was Arnold.

Norman, his eyes full of tears, quickly ran up to his room. Derek, also as gobsmacked as he had been, followed cautiously.

Fireman Sam and Elvis, who had been watching this from outside, looked shocked and worried.

"Do you think Norman Price really will run away, Sam?" Elvis asked.

"No, I don't think he would, Elvis." Sam said. "He was just being silly. I'm sure he'll forget all about it soon enough."

"I bet Uncle Sam couldn't have been more wrong about that." said Sarah. 

"Indeed I was, Sarah. Indeed I was." Fireman Sam said grimly to Sarah.

He handed the book to Penny, so she carried on form the next bit.

'I'm sorry to say that Fireman Sam was wrong - Norman decided that he WAS gonna run away, and do it he did.

Later that day, Norman Price was busy writing a letter, telling anyone who read it that he was running away.

The letter read, "Dear anyone who reads this letter:'

'Don't bother looking for me, cause I'm running away to Newtown and I will never ever EVER be coming back, EVER!'

'GOODBYE FOREVER!'

'NORMAN PRICE'

"Wow." said Malcolm Williams. "That was quite a bad thing to do."

"Done." Norman said to himself. Immediately, he began to feel much happier. "When everyone's asleep tonight, I'll sneak out the back door, and run away!" He chuckled naughtily to himself. "This is so exciting!"

Everyone in Pontypandy all looked at each other, worried and anxious, for what was about to come next.

Penny continued on.

'Finally, night-time arrived. When Norman was sure Dilys and Derek were sound asleep, he got up, and grabbed his backpack. Quietly, he snuck out the room into the kitchen, and raided the cupboards for snacks and a few drinks, and filled up his backpack. Then he put it on his back.

He snuck downstairs, really quietly, then he grabbed the picnic hamper Dilys had packed that morning, and very very carefully pushed the back door to the shop open, and snuck out into the night. And then, he ran out down the road. Then, he stopped, and turned round, staring at the shop, and then he shouted out at the top of his voice very loudly, "GOODBYE FOREVER, YOU GREAT BIG FAT MEANIE OF A MAM!"

Everyone, including Dilys, felt hurt & offended BY THE COMMENT. Dilys angrily glared at Norman, who shrunk into his seat.

And with not a care for how he acted and/or what was gonna happen to him, off Norman Price ran, down the road, over the hill, out of town, past the Floods' house, and off down the road to the forest. He didn't care about what his mam, Fireman Sam, or anyone else would say if they found he was gone. He didn't care if he never saw Pontypandy again. All that mattered to him was going far far away, and never ever coming back. EVER.

He took one last long look at Pontypandy in the distance.

"So long, Pontypandy." he said, and carried on going, disappearing into the night.'

"Wow." Trevor said. "I never thought I'd see the day when Norman Price actually did run away from Pontypandy."

"I bet that it's gonna get Norman into lots of trouble." said Rose Ravani.

"Especially since he insulted his own mother." Said Professor Pickles.

Penny nodded, then handed the book to Elvis so he could read the next chapter.

Chapter Text

As dawn began to break, Norman was now skipping merrily along the road, as happy as a jackrabbit, as merry as a schoolboy, and he was feeling very pleased with himself. "Haha!" he chuckled naughtily to himself. "Mam's gonna be really sorry when she finds me gone!"

He carried on walking, feeling pleased with himself. "Living in Newtown will be so much fun! I can't wait till I get there!"

"What happened to sleeping?" complained Mrs Chen. "I took a rest on the way." Norman argued. "You don't think I went on walking all night, didn't you?"

A minute or two later, however, Norman soon began to discover that Newtown was a very long way away.

"Awww... Newtown is still a long way away." he moaned. Then, he yawned. "I know," he said to himself, "I'll go find a quiet place to have a sleep in the forest." He climbed over a wall, and ran into the forest.

He made it to the campsite where the charred tents were.

"Good job Trevor never took these down." he said to himself.

Trevor felt a little embarrassed.

He crawled into one of the tents, laid down, and fell fast asleep.

Later, after his short nap, he tucked into some of the sandwiches from the hamper, as his lunch. "This is the best thing I've done, ever." he said. "I bet Fireman Sam hasn't even noticed I've gone."

Everyone was now shocked and cross at Norman for two reasons: one, because he disobeyed his punishment, and two, because he ran away from home, stole property from his mum [again], and put himself in danger.

"How could you do this, Norman!?" Mandy snapped. "I mean, you could've really gotten hurt out there alone!"

"I had to, Mandy," Norman said, "I thought it was a good idea at the time! It's fun to run away from home!"

"Besides," he added, "If I hadn't ran away, I never would have met the thugs."

"Thugs?" asked Peter. "What are they?"

"Thugs are people who act violently, especially to commit a crime." PC Malcolm Williams said, remembering the thugs he'd once arrested in the big city before he moved to Pontypandy.

Elvis turned the page.

But, back in Pontypandy, Norman's disappearance had not gone unnoticed - back in Pontypandy, Steele got a message on his fax machine. He gasped when he read the letter on it. "What?! Norman Price has ran away from home?! Oh, no!"

He sounded the fire alarm, and immediately, Sam, Elvis and Penny reported to Steele, sliding down the fire pole. "Norman Price has ran away from home!" Steele said.

Sam., Elvis and Penny were gobsmacked.

"He couldn't have!" Penny said.

But Norman Price HAD ran away.

Everyone [minus the characters who'd appeared in the story] gasped.

That was what the firefighters found out when they got to Dilys' shop, and got the whole story from a very upset Dilys. "I saw the note this morning, Fireman Sam!" Dilys cried, for she was sobbing, and drying her eyes with tissues. "Oh, my poor little Norman!" Dilys sobbed, "Out there, all alone, no food, nowhere nice to sleep..." She blew her nose on another tissue and threw it onto a pile of soggy tissues on the floor next to the counter. "Oh, if only I hadn't been so horrid to him!" She cried even louder, and ran up to her room, crying all the way.

Trevor patted Dilys on her shoulder.

"That's terrible!" Mike Flood said.

Fireman Sam read the note that Dilys had shown him. He gasped. "I can't believe it. "Norman Price ran away after all!" He turned to Elvis and Penny. "This is very serious." Fireman Sam stated. "We must go find him. I'll call Tom Thomas so he can use his helicopter to search for him." he dialled up Tom Thomas at the Mountain Rescue Centre. "Norman Price has ran away, Tom. Can you use your helicopter to find him?"

"Roger that, Sam!" Tom Thomas' voice rang from the phone.

Everyone became relieved.

"Right." Sam said. "Elvis, you go with me to find Norman in Jupiter. Penny, call Trevor, and tell him to bring Charlie, Bronwyn, Sarah, James, and Mandy to help too."

"Got it." Penny said. "I'll call Helen Flood too."

"I'll go too." Dilys said, coming down from upstairs with a bag packed with essentials.

"Uhh, I don't think that's a good idea..." Fireman Sam began uneasily.

"I don't care." Dilys said firmly. "My Norman's out there, and I'm coming with you to find him."

"Oh, Auntie Dilys." Derek said. "You are brave."

Fireman Sam knew this was extremely serious, but there was no other choice - he needed all-hands-on-deck to find Norman.

"Come on, then!" Fireman Sam said seriously, as he headed out the shop, followed by Elvis and Penny, as they headed back to the fire station.

Dilys stayed back at the shop to wait for Trevor to pick her up. She waved goodbye to Sam.

"We'd better hurry." Fireman Sam muttered to himself. "No telling what mischief Norman Price will be getting up to!"

"What will Norman be getting up to?" Hannah asked anxiously. 

"You'll see soon." Lizzie Sparkes said.

Chapter Text

Elvis then handed the book to Station Officer Steele, so he could read the next page.

BACK IN THE FOREST, Norman suddenly heard some rustling.

"What was that?" he said, surprised. He got up, got outta the tent, and looked around. He couldn't see anyone, or hear any rustling.

"I must have been hearing things." Norman decided.

Then, he heard some more rustling in the trees.

"OK," he said, "I definitely heard something that time!"

Mrs Chen hugged Lily tightly.

He looked and listened again, but he still saw & heard nobody. "Who could be making those noises?" he wondered.

"I wonder who it is too." Jodie Phillips said. Everyone else agreed.

It was then He suddenly heard some footsteps. "Oh, crumbs!" Norman said to himself. "I bet someone's looking for me! I'd better get out of here!"

"Good idea, Norman." said Rose Ravani.

With that, he grabbed his backpack and picnic hamper, and dashed out of the campsite.

He soon reached the car park. There he saw a motor-home-like vehicle parked there. "What's that doing there?" he wondered.

It was then he saw the motor home looked... rather patched and scrappy, not like any motor home he'd seen before - it even had some graffiti marks.

"Yikes." Moose said. "Sounds like a real ruff n' tumble van, like in the demolition derby i watched when I was a kid."

He saw the door on the far side was open.

"Well," he said, quoting Toad from 'Wind in the Willows', "there's no harm in only just looking."

"Uh-oh." said Fireman Sam anxiously.

Everyone else looked uneasily at each other, some twirling their hairs nervously, rubbing their arms and biting their lips.

He got inside, and saw it looked very scrappy, and some of the seats and floor looked worn down.

"Whoa." he said. "This is strange. I never saw a motor home as messy as this on that one school trip me and my friends took last year."

SUDDENLY!

Norman heard the footsteps from outside; they seemed to be gettin' louder. "Oh, double crumbs!" Norman said to himself. "I'd better hide!"

Norman quickly hid in the toilet in the motor home, and shut the door. "Good." he thought to himself, as he sat down. "No one will think to find me here."

"I bet he'll regret it sooner or later." said Penny to herself.

Norman kept quiet, listening as he heard footsteps, then a door shut, and the next thing he knew, the motor home gave a sharp jerk backwards. Norman felt himself hitting the wall of the bathroom he was in. He tried not to yell in pain, knowing if he made one little sound, it meant that whoever the motor home belonged to would find Norman, know he was tresspassing, and kick him out onto the road, or even worse, take him back to Pontypandy, where he would be found out as a runaway!

Then, he felt the motor home's engine roar like a tiger, and it raced along the country roads as fast as Jupiter.

"Nice reference to Jupiter, sir." Elvis said to Steele.

The motor home smashed through a gate, and sped through a field, scaring the sheep in there as it went by, Woolly and Lambikins included, making a cameo.

"Nice of whoever wrote this book to include Woolly and Lambikins." said Norman to himself.

From in the Motor home bathroom, Norman felt the motor home bumping around in the field, and it made him dizzy and tired. Immediately, he fell asleep.

"I hope he wasn't too badly hurt." said Bromwyn to herself.

"Me too Mum." Sarah said.

"You and me both, Sarah." said James.

It was a good 20 minutes before Norman woke up again.

He could heard cars driving around, so it seemed he was in the city.

'I must be in Newtown.' Norman thought to himself. He looked outta the window that was in the motor home's bathroom, and there he saw it - the city of Newtown itself.

As Norman got up, he slipped on a bath mat that had been moved, and fell against the wall, making a thump noise.

Everyone gasped [again].

SUDDENLY!

Norman heard voices.

"You know, Frank," said one voice, that sounded deep and similar to Agent J from the Men in Black cartoon series, "i think i heard something in the bathroom."

"Men in Black?" said Joe Sparkes. "What is that?"

"I was thinking that same thing too, Bert." the other voice, that sounded gruff, with a hint of an American accent, said, "Maybe we should go take a look."

And then, Norman heard footsteps. they came closer, and closer, and closer. "Oh, triple crumbs!" he thought.

Dilys gaped too.

He saw the bathroom door open, and there he saw 2 men staring at him.

The first man had a tall build, like Agent J from the Men in Black cartoon series, and a very deep almond skin tone, and jet black hair that looked like it was cut in a militarian short style. His brown eyes stared hard at Norman, and Norman could see he had stubble on his chin. The man's clothes were a ragged and dusty black waistcoat over a oil-stained white vest, grey denim jeans that looked caked with oil and dirt and god knows what else, and leather biker boots with scuffed soles. Attached to the waistcoat were chains connected, with a couple of spanners on each chain on the parts of the waistcoat.

The second man had a stocky build with a 'REGULAR JOE' type of belly; small and round, medium deep rose skin, and he was balding, with straggly brown hair around the back of his head, a 5 o'clock shadow, and brown eyes, like the first man had, staring at Norman. His clothes consisted of a dirt-stained blue dress shirt, that hardly covered his bellybutton, dark blue denim jeans, and black sneakers. He also had a piercing on his lower lip.

"Wow." said Helen Flood. "What strange people."

"I know." Mike agreed.

"Well, look what we have here. A stowaway." said the first man.

Norman gulped. he was in BIG trouble now!

Norman in the room seeing the book being read went pale. He knew that causing the Great Fire of Pontypandy had been the worst thing he'd ever done, and a lot more worse things besides. But joining with thugs, I'd say it would be an understatement.

Hopefully when they were back in Pontypandy, he would change his life for the better.

Chapter Text

The Fireman Sam cast in the room looked unnerved.

Steele anxiously handed the book to Fireman Sam so that he could carry on reading.

MEANWHILE...

Everyone in Pontypandy was searching different parts of the forest, calling for Norman, and checking every place they thought Norman could be hiding.

Sam, Elvis, Penny, Radar, Sarah, and James were searching the charred campsite. They searched all the charred and knocked down tents, until Radar noticed something in one of the tents - a few crisp packets and a banana peel.

"Norman definitely was here." Fireman Sam said, picking up the litter. "This reminds me of when he ate everything from the whole picnic basket on the day he, Mandy, Helen, Dilys, Steele and Trevor went to the beach."

"That, I remember too well." Dilys said, glaring at Norman.

He radioed Tom Thomas. "Any sign of Norman, yet, Tom?"

"Negative, Sam," Tom's voice went from the radio. "I'm not having any luck where I'm searching."

Tom was riding his helicopter to search near the lighthouse, and along the cliffs. "I'm gonna head back to the Mountain Rescue Centre to refuel." he said.

"Ok, thanks Tom." Sam said, then hung up.

"Oh dear me." Joe Sparkes said. "I hope you found Norman Price soon, Fireman Sam." 

"We did, Joe," Sam said, "But wait till the end."

Sarah & James ran up to him from their side of the campsite. "Any luck?" he asked his niece and nephew.

"No, Uncle Sam." Sarah & James said together sadly.

"I'm really worried about Norman, Uncle Sam." James said anxiously.

"You and me both, James." Sarah said sadly.

"So am I." Sam assured his niece & nephew. "Oh, he's most foolish to run away from home like this." He sighed. "But don't you two worry," he said, building confidence, "We're gonna find him before he gets into trouble... if he hasn't already."

Everyone gulped.

Sam took a deep breath, and carried on reading.

Fireman Sam didn't know that Norman Price was in trouble - he was in Newtown, and he had been caught by 2 thugs who had found him in their motor home. The dark-skinned thug had grabbed Norman by his shirt, lifted him up, and pinned him against the wall of a building and had prepared his other fist close to Norman's face.

Dilys gasped. "Oh, my little Norman!"

And before you ask, Yes, I'm aware that most thugs use sharp knives, but since this is a kids show, the knives are not there.

"At least whoever wrote this made sure to respect health and safety." Fireman Sam said to no one in particular.

"All right, boy." the brown-skinned thug said sternly, "what were you doing in our van?"

"And this time, the truth." the stocky thug stated.

"I-I-I-I'm not sure! I didn't know about your motor home, I swear!" Norman Price FIBBED, panicked, and quite scared, knowing full well that the thug was holding him would potentially hurt him if he did anything.

Everyone was waiting with baited breath, and most of them were worried about Norman. Would he be ok?

Unfortunately, the brown-skinned thug was, sad to say, not a patient man. "This is your last warning!" the brown-skinned thug said to Norman, now totally mad beyond belief, like Dilys had been in chapter 1 of this story. "I'm gonna give you 30 seconds to tell us why you were trespassing in our van, and I'll punch you in the face!" snapped the thug.

"Uh, don't you mean 'or'?" the stocky thug asked.

The Brown-skinned thug sighed in exasperation, then said to Norman angrily, "Tell us why you were trespassing in our van, or I'll punch you in the face!"

"Well, which is it, then?" Norman Price asked. "That's a pretty crucial conjunction, you know."

Some of the people in the room snickered a bit. Even Mrs Chen had to admit that line sounded quite funny.

For the brown-skinned thug, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Suddenly, the snickers gave way to gasps of horror.

"THAT'S IT!" the brown-skinned thug yelled at Norman, so loud it nearly made him go deaf. "YOU'RE GONNA BE POUNDED INTO DOG MEAT!"

Norman shut his eyes, and prepared for the worst. Thoughts of his final words were soon buzzing around in his head like angry bees.

"Ooooooh, I can't bear to look!" Dilys cried, covering her eyes. "Trevor, tell me when it's over!" she said to Trevor.

The brown-skinned thug reared back his fist, preparing to pummel Norman senseless, when...

"STOP!" called a voice.

Everyone sighed in relief.

"What happened?" asked Dilys, who still had her eyes covered.

"A voice told the thug to stop, Auntie Dilys." Derek said.

Both the thugs and Norman turned to look, and they almost immediately saw where and who the voice came from, a big bulky man with a thick ginger beard and scruffy ginger hair with a few grey streaks in it, blue eyes, and a light rose skin tone. Norman immediately guessed he was a thug, due to his clothes, which consisted of a dirty white shirt with a few holes in it, under a scuffed black leather waistcoat, dirt-stained brown pants, and scuffed brown boots. Norman also saw the tattoos of skulls and snakes on his big arms, and a few scars on his forearms and on his face, and a piercing on his right ear.

The big bulky thug walked up to the brown-skinned thug, glaring at him.

"Uhhh, hi, boss." the Brown-skinned thug said sheepishly. "Didn't see ya there. We caught this kid trespassing in our motor home, and-"

"Let him go." the big bulky thug said, speaking in a voice similar to Knuckles McGinty from Paddington 2.

The brown-skinned thug was surprised. "But boss, we-" he started.

"Let. Him. Go." the bulky thug said firmly.

"But, boss-" the brown-skinned thug began again.

"NOW." the big bulky thug said, a tinge of anger in his voice.

The brown-skinned thug stared defiantly, almost considering wanting to argue, but, with a sigh of defeat, reluctantly let Norman go.

"That, was too close." Mandy Flood said.

"Don't bet on it, Mandy." Fireman Sam said. He continued reading.

Norman gasped for breath. He looked at the big bulky thug. "Thanks.. sir, I.." he began.

"So!" the big bulky thug said angrily, glaring at Norman, "You're the little kid who trespassed in my men's transport vehicle!"

"Again, I didn't even know it belonged to your thugs." Norman said. "I just ran away from home, and then when i heard voices, I ran into it to hide."

"You ran away from home?" the stocky thug asked, incredulous.

"Yes. I ran away from home." Norman Price said.

"We already know that." Penny said. Ellie shushed her.

"Hmmmm..." the big bulky thug said, thinking to himself. "This kid could prove useful to us." He turned to Norman and said, "Why don't ya come with us to the hideout, and tell us all."

Of course, Norman Price should've known better than to talk to strangers, but he felt so intrigued that someone actually wanted to know, he said, "OK."

"Excellent." the big bulky thug said. "Come on!"

Everyone in the room looked worried. Causing the Great Fire of Pontypandy was one thing, but running away from home and going with people he didn't even know was quite serious, if I am not being rude.

The thugs brought Norman to their hideout - an old factory in Newtown's industrial estate, not far from where the motor home/van was parked.

The big bulky thug opened a door on the side, and it opened with a loud creak. Norman and the thugs went inside.

Judging by the interior, Norman saw the factory was definitely old, and it seemed to be abandoned - the windows in the roof seemed all smashed and cracked, the factory walls looked grubby, and coated in oil stains, and the floor looked coated in dirt and dust.

And it was then Norman Price saw some old worn chairs and couches and a scuffed metal coffee table nearby. Then, he also saw 1 other man sitting on the farthest couch, reading a book.

That mann was, like the other 3 men before him, a thug. That figure had a light rose skin tone, and shaggy-looking orange hair, blue eyes, and a stubbly goatee. His clothes consisted of a blue top under a black biker vest, black leather biker trousers, and on his feet, he had dark pink socks.

Next to the couch he was sitting on, there was a pair of black biker boots.

"Crikey. That thug looks almost like we've seen him in a tv show." Tom Thomas said.

"Jackson!" bellowed the big bulky thug, prompting the ginger haired man to raise his head from the book he was reading, and look up at the other thugs and Norman, entering near the couches.

"Boss, what is it?" The ginger haired thug, now known as Jackson, asked, a cockney accent in his voice.

"We got ourselves a new recruit!" said the big bulky thug.

"New recruit?" Jackson exclaimed. "Brill!"

The other thugs made themselves comfortable on the couches and chairs near the coffee table. Norman sat himself next to the brown-skinned thug. Jackson eyed Norman with amazement. "Boy, he's a young-un." he said.

Jackson then turned to the big bulky thug, sitting on a worn red posh arm chair. "Boss, How'd you get this kid here?" he asked, out of curiosity.

"We caught him trespassing in our getaway vehicle." the brown-skinned thug said.

"He took us by surprise." the stocky thug said.

Norman felt ominously quiet.

"I see." Jackson said, eying Norman. "What's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Umm, my name is Norman Stanley Price." said Norman. "Mostly it's just Norman Price. That's what my mam calls me, mostly when she's really upset with me."

"Norman, innit?" Jackson said. "Nice name, i guess."

"It is." Norman said. Then, he looked at the other 3 thugs. "Oh, I'm sorry,," he said to the other 3 thugs, "but I didn't catch your names."

"My name's Bert," the brown-skinned thug said, "But my nickname's 'Spanner'."

"Spanner?" Norman thought to himself. "That name sounds familiar."

"I second that." said Steele.

"Exactly." the brown-skinned thug, now known as Spanner, said. "I'm the getaway driver/mechanic of the motor home/getaway van that you trespassed in."

"My name's Frank." the stocky thug sitting next to Spanner said. "but my nickname's Barge. I'm more of the short type of thug, but I'm also the distraction guy."

"Distraction guy?" Norman said, confused.

"Means he creates distractions to draw people's attention away from us." Jackson said.

"Exactly," said the stocky thug, now known as Barge. "Jackson, there," he added, motioning to Jackson, "is our lookout. He makes sure we're not followed."

"And I," said the big bulky thug, sitting on a leather red armchair, "am the chief and leader, Gruffston."

"I'm guessing you lead the thugs, don't you?" Norman asked the big bulky thug, now known as Gruffston.

"I like the names." Joe said. "Maybe Lizzie could name some animals she rescues with names like them."

Lizzie sighed.

"You guess correctly." Gruffston said. "Now," he said, leaning back in his chair, "tell us, Normie, why did you run away from home?"

So Norman Price explained everything to Gruffston and his gang, all about the events that lead to the Great Fire of Pontypandy, right up to when he got severely punished by Dilys.

"That is impressive." Spanner said, in agreement. "Who'd have thought a boy like you could cause such a huge fire?"

Norman felt ashamed that he'd told the thugs about his incident that caused a whole near evacuation of Pontypandy.

"You know," Gruffston said to Norman, "we could use someone like you in our gang. Whaddaya say?"

"Sure!" Norman said excitedly. "I'd love to join you."

"Ah, well, it's not that easy." Barge said to Norman.

"It's not?" Norman asked, confused.

"You see," Jackson stated, "We don't let any common troublemaker enter our gang. You wanna be in with the boss, you gotta EARN his respect."

"How do I do that?" Norman asked.

"Why did he have to ask that?" sighed Charlie.

"We're gonna put you through a little test, to see if you can stand on your own two feet." Spanner said. "It's a real simple one." he added.

"That's right." Gruffston said to Norman. "Ya pass, you're in the gang."

"Easy." Norman boasted. "I could do it even whilst blindfolded!"

"That's what I like 'bout ya, Normie," Gruffston said. "Ya got spunk, I'll give ye that." He glanced at the darkening sky, seen from the broken windows. "Well," he said to Norman, "time to turn in for the night."

"Already?" Norman said, surprised.

"Yup." Gruffston said, "We gotta get a bright early start for your initiaton test tomorrow." He directed Norman to an old mattress, a pale worn tarpaulin, and some burlap sacks. "You sleep over there tonight."

"At least they're giving him somewhere to sleep." Professor Pickles said.

"Ok." Norman said uneasily. He got onto the funny-looking bed, and lay down, resting his head on a pile of burlap sacks. Turning onto his side so he could see the couches and chairs, he saw Gruffston walking to where the other thugs were. "OK," he said to the other thugs," Time to turn in, everybody."

Norman watched as the thugs seemed to head off to bed as well - he watched Spanner kick off his boots, put his hands behind his head and rest his bare feet on the scuffed metal coffee table.

Jackson curled up on the couch he'd been sitting on since his introduction to this story, and Barge slumped onto that same couch, his head lying next to Jackson's pink stockinged feet.

He saw Gruffston come to a mattress like the one he was lying on, a distance away from him. He watched as Gruffston sat on the mattress, kicked off his boots, took off his waistcoat and lay on his back, and put his waistcoat over his chest like a blanket.

Almost immediately, the whole building echoes to Gruffston's loud snores.

Those snores sounded like a herd of pigs trying to play a recorder through it's nostril the wrong way round.

Norman dug his face into the burlap sack, and fell asleep amongst the snores.

"Wow." said Bronwyn. "I can't believe Norman Price did that."

"Talk to strangers and join them?" Sarah said. "Yes, mum."

"Sounds like trouble is on the way." Ellie said.

"Trust me, Ellie." Sam said. "It certainly will be."