The engines sat waiting in Dryaw Station, admiring the beauty of springtime.

"There's so many flowers, Thomas!" Percy shouted to his friend excitedly. "Look! I can't even count them all!"

"Yes, indeed, Percy!" Thomas agreed. "One, two, three, four, five, six…"

"Wait, I think you counted that one already," Percy needled in. "Hold on. Start over."

Edward and Emily giggled at the little green engine's innocent blunder.

James, however, wasn't at all surprised.

"Something told me Percy wouldn't know how to count…" He muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, a loud a familiar whistle flooded the station, followed by "Express Coming Through!"

Gordon pulled up proudly, and snootily, into the station. His driver patted his engine's side like proud father would to his son.

"You've broken the record again, old boy!" He cheered. Gordon just smiled smugly.

"Of course! Who else would deliver the passengers in record time?" He chuckled. He looked to the other engines, who rolled their eyes. It was just like Gordon to brag. He was exceptional at it- with only James as his competition for it.

"Pardon my gasconade, fellow engines," He apologized evenly. The others were unfazed, as they knew Gordon barely ever meant what he said. At last, Percy broke the silence.

"Pardon what gatorade?" He asked innocently. This sent the bigger engines into confusion. "Engines use water, Gordon."

The confusion on the engines faces blossomed quickly into whirlwind of laughter. It was hard to tell whether Gordon was annoyed or amused.

"Who else but Percy to not understand the most rudimentary vocabulary…?" He asked James wryly.

"You're still surprised?" James sighed.

Thomas felt bad for his friend. He smiled reassuringly. "Gordon said to excuse his gasconade, Percy. It's bragging or excessive boasting."

Percy seemed to smile a little bit, but it soon faded into a perplexed look. "I hate whenever Gordon uses big words. It's almost as if he uses it to bother me! As if I'm not as smart as he is!" He looked at the ground angrily.

"Cheer up, Percy," he comforted. "Gordon only uses big words because he just wants to look bigger than us. As if he wasn't big enough already," He mused, which made Percy giggle.

"But don't worry. Me and James can teach you a game to understand big words!" He thought quickly.

James looked appalled at being mentioned. "Me?! Why me?!" He asked in shock.

"It's the least you can do," Thomas countered. "If you're going to poke fun at him, I can just tell a certain someone about the certain incident with a bootlace…that'll be real fun, wouldn't James?" He muttered cheekily to the others, who simply giggled quietly at the gossip.

"Fine…" James conceded snootily. "I suppose I could teach Percy that art of being a sesquipedalian…" He said, with his familiar pout on his face.

"A…secretarian…?" Percy tried to decipher, looking to his blue friend for help.

"Now's a good time start…" Thomas said to himself.

…

As Thomas and James puffed along the line with the green comrade, they thought of fun ways to teach Percy big words.

They halted at a signal, and glanced up at a tree, where they saw a small Carolina Wren feeding her chicks in a nest.

"Look at that, Thomas!" Percy observed excitedly. "That mother bird is nesting her young."

"Yes!" Thomas agreed. "You know another word for nesting is nidificating." He said.

Percy pondered quietly to himself. "Nid-if-i-cate. Got it!"

"See? You're learning big words already," James supplied from the behind him. "All you have to do is think of the words you already know, and simply give them another name."

"Oh! This sounds fun!" His green friend whistled.

…

The three engines pulled up at Norramby Beach. They smiled as the watch the small children romp around in the sand, and play in the ocean in splash fights.

"Don't they look joyful, Thomas?" Percy asked.

"They sure do! That's why I love delivering children here!" He replied, thinking of his past trips to the beach with children in his coaches.

"And another word for 'joyful' is ebullient." James reminded Percy.

"Ebullient…" Percy repeated. "I understand now!" And the three friends puffed off once more.

…

Thomas, James, and Percy pulled up to Lower Suddery Station. Percy recognized this place immediately as the spot he ran to after he was spooked by Gordon during his first day on the Island.

"This place looks familiar!" Percy shouted to the others. "I've been here before! This is where I came after Gordon scared me a long time ago."

"So you could say you were very…?" Thomas and James prompted their friend in chorus.

"Aghast! I was rather aghast at Gordon's rushing toward me." Percy finished confidently.

Thomas and James smiled to each other, excited to see what kind of use Percy would put these big words to.

The two friends had spent the day expanding Percy's vocabulary, and felt that the little green engine had become very smart over the day's events.

…

The next day, at Dryaw Station, the engines were together, chatting about this and that, when Gordon pulled quickly into the station again, boasting.

"And that's another 5 seconds shaved off of my record!" He bragged. "As they say, I certainly am the bellwether of Sodor's Express! You wouldn't possibly know what that means, right Percy?" He teased. But Percy, unfazed, simply smiled smugly.

"Actually, Gordon, I do understand. Your speed is certainly an idiosyncratic part of you!"

The other engines boggled at the youngest engine of the fleet's newfound intelligence.

"Um, um," Gordon stammered. "I'm uh what…?"

"Yes, Gordon. Thomas and James have augmented my vocabulary," Percy spoke like some sort of television pundit. "I felt humiliated by your incessant goading of my lack of word skills, so I've learned how to combat your circumlocution." He finished proudly, much to the awe of the others.

Before he could answer, a very uncomfortable Gordon heard the guard's whistle, and sighting a good opportunity to leave, quickly sped off with his passengers.

"Boy, did you show him!" Thomas marveled to his best friend.

"I'm very proud of you, Percy!" James said awes, in a rare compliment.

"Wow, Percy! You even had me shaking!" Emily gaped. Henry, Toby, and Edward couldn't agree more.

"Thank you everybody!" Percy said proudly. "Now I don't have to use these big words anymore!"

And they all shared a hearty laugh.