Thunder crashed as Deltic sat in the Container Yard with his coach, waiting for Soggy to couple up a long line of container trucks to it. He remained stoic and brooding as Curtis loaded containers onto flatbeds one by one, but secretly was grumbling under his breath.

"Come on…the sooner I'm out of this cesspool the better…" The large diesel grunted. Inside the coach, Mr. Buffman was having a discussion with the rest of the board, with the Fat Controller desperately trying to find a time to cut into the conversation so he could leave the coach.

"Now, when we're back at corporate on the Mainland, I want to redirect some funds-" Mr. Buffman gestured at the whiteboard inside the coach, but the Fat Controller raised his hand. One of the other board members quickly shoved it down.

"Don't you know protocol? No questions until Mr. Buffman is done speaking; he doesn't like to be interrupted!" He hissed. The Fat Controller scowled.

"But I'm not supposed to-"

"Shh!" The Fat Controller groaned under his breath, and was promptly shushed again by the entire board. Mr. Buffman looked away from his presentation.

"Is something wrong, gentlemen?"

"No!"

"Nothing at all, Mr. Buffman!"

"Good." He returned to his presentation, leaving the rest of the board to scowl at a sheepish Fat Controller. Outside, Soggy shunted the trucks against Deltic's coach, and he was coupled up.

"Have a safe trip, Mr. Deltic!" Soggy called, but Deltic didn't respond before beginning to slowly move out of the yard. Suddenly, he heard a familiar whistle.

"You have got to be kidding me." Thomas sped into the yard at lightning speed.

"Deltic! You can't go to the Mainland! The bridge isn't safe!" Deltic glared, gritting his teeth in pure rage.

"Why can't you just buzz off!?" He honked his horn, causing the yard's signalman to switch the points, directing Thomas across the turntable and towards the shed. The tank engine's brakes screeched as he slammed into the shed's buffers. Deltic began speeding up, desperately trying to leave the yard.

"Sogliole!" He barked. The shunting tractor jumped.

"Yes, Mr. Deltic?"

"Keep the tank engine from leaving the yard until I'm out of sight, or you're fired!" Soggy gaped in horror.

"B-but-"

"NOW!" Soggy yipped and sped towards Thomas, who was spinning around on the turntable to try to get back on the main line. The tank engine and shunting tractor collided as Thomas approached the points, and Thomas' wheels desperately spun as he tried to push against Soggy.

"DELTIC! PLEASE! YOU'RE IN DANGER!" He cried desperately, but the big diesel simply ignored him as he pulled out of sight. Thomas looked down at Soggy, and tears began to appear in his eyes.

"Please, Soggy! Move!" Soggy grimaced awkwardly.

"I'd love to, Thomas, but I'd also like to keep to my job!" He replied. Thunder crashed, and even the sound of Deltic had disappeared now. Thomas was now fully crying.

"Soggy, I need to make things right! Deltic's in danger from the Buffman Bomber!" Soggy raised an eyebrow, still resisting as much as he could.

"And how do you know that, then? We don't even know who he is-"

"IT'S JUNIOR! JUNIOR IS THE BUFFMAN BOMBER!" Soggy's eyes widened.

"What?" He lost his grip because of the shock, and Thomas rammed Soggy off the rails and into the ballast. The tank engine looked apologetically at him.

"Sorry, Soggy, but I have to stop Deltic!" Thomas whistled, and frantically sped away from the Container Yard to try and make up the ground. Soggy spluttered as he disappeared.

"That can't be right…Junior's dead!" He muttered his breath, but he heard a voice clearing his throat and looked up.

"I've told a lot of lies in my day, mate, and I can say that was definitely the truth." Curtis commented gravely. Soggy remained silent, stunned and wide-eyed, and he looked to where Thomas had been, tears streaming down his cheeks.

The rain was pouring harder now, and Clive, Paxton, and Sidney were pulling Gün Dora along the main line, their lamps all on trying to see through the storm.

"Vhere are ve going, Clive?" Dora asked, terrified. Paxton looked to the bigger diesel, who was staring determinedly into the rain, his lamp brightest of all.

"Clive, where are we going?" Paxton hissed. Clive remained focused.

"Somewhere safe." He replied. Suddenly, he spotted a figure of a tank engine through the rain.

"Thomas?" Clive called, overjoyed, but his face fell as he got closer and realized that he didn't recognize the scarred tank engine staring at them with gritted teeth.

"STOP!" A familiar voice shrieked. Clive and Paxton slammed on their brakes as fast as they could, and Sidney felt the force ram against him.

"Ow!" Clive looked at the engine, horrified.

"You're, you're-"

"You know who I am. Now, listen to me and listen good. Salty saw me at the Wharf, and they're sure to be after me now. I'm not going down without Millard Buffman dead, so you will help me or I'll throw you into the ocean, got it?" The Buffman Bomber was panicking, but remained threatening. The three diesels stood in stunned silence at the criminal's true appearance. He rolled his eyes.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR THEN, YOU IDIOTS?" Dora whimpered in fear, as the Buffman Bomber ran around the back of the train and slammed into the side that Sidney wasn't shunting himself.

"B-but-" Clive began, but the Bomber's whistle rang out and he began to push, leaving the three diesels to only helplessly obey as thunder crashed.

Deltic raced along the line towards the Vicarstown Bridge, pounding the rails with his train thundering along behind him.

"Come on, come on…" Suddenly, he heard a familiar whistle.

"What?" Sure enough, Thomas was speeding up towards the rear of the train.

"Deltic! Stop! You're in danger!" He cried, his wheels whirring against the rails. Deltic growled, and honked his horn before picking up speed. Thomas scowled.

"Shovel faster! We have to catch up!" He called to the fireman, and soon enough Thomas was speeding up, and he began to draw level with Deltic as the rain poured down.

The Buffman Bomber and his minions climbed the hilly cliff track furiously. The rain made the track difficult to grip, and the engines were having a tough time climbing.

"She's too heavy!" Paxton cried, as his wheels slipped helplessly on the wet rails. The Bomber growled as he pushed.

"Work harder!" He snarled. Finally, the four engines managed to approach the part of the cliff with a perfect view of the Vicarstown Bridge. Clive, Paxton, and Sidney were uncoupled from Dora as the Buffman Bomber rammed her into position, aiming right at the bridge.

"Finally…after all these years…" He chuckled darkly to himself. Suddenly, he felt something ram into his buffers, knocking him towards another line that went higher up the cliff.

"What?" Clive stood on the line, blocking the Buffman Bomber from Dora defiantly.

"I'm done. You're not hurting anyone anymore." The tramway diesel stood his ground. The Buffman Bomber growled furiously.

"Get out of my way! I won't let you keep me from my revenge!"

"No! If you try to use Dora again, I'll…bash you! Like you do to us!" The Bomber shrieked in anger.

"MOVE!" He backed up for a running start before beginning to rush at Clive. Paxton and Sidney, watching from the sidelines, grimaced. Tears began streaming down Dora's cheeks, but Clive stood strong. However, a horn rang out that caused the Buffman Bomber to slam his brakes on, coming to a stop buffer-to-buffer with Clive. Paxton and Sidney gasped at the figure. The Bomber's eyes narrowed.

"You." Thunder crashed as the figure's silhouette was illuminated through the heavy rain.

"Stand aside, Clive. This is my fight." Salty rolled into the light, looking determinedly at his old friend. His eyes softened, however, upon seeing the emptiness in Junior's eyes.

"Do you recognize me?" He asked. Junior's blank expression contorted into a furious snarl.

"I would never forget the face of the engine who dug my grave." The old tank engine spat venomously. Salty winced, but took a deep breath and regained his composure.

"How did you survive the accident?" Junior chuckled darkly.

"That's a story, isn't it, Salty?" He took a deep breath before beginning.

"When I had my accident, Mr. Buffman promised me one thing.

'It'll be quick,' he said." Junior paused for a moment, regaining his composure, before continuing with clear rage boiling beneath the surface.

"It wasn't. Being cheap runs in the blood for the Buffman family, so I was put on 'lowest priority' at the scrapyard because it was less expensive for them to store me that way. Oh, they cut plenty of stuff around me, sure, but they never quite got around to me! I sat in that scrapyard for twenty years, with nothing but the screams of projects they considered more important than me to KEEP ME COMPANY! I was trapped in a hell that that whole company put me in, a hell that MILLARD BUFFMAN SR. TOSSED ME INTO!" Junior stopped his psychotic break to laugh for a moment.

"Then, it hit me. Buffman sent me off to die…so why couldn't I do the same? I began planning to kill him, and make him suffer just as much as I had. But how to do it? Well, you hear a lot from old military engines on scrap row, and one of them told me about this rail cannon; so I decided I was going to destroy his company, and then destroy him! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He frowned following his giddy laughter.

"But the old man got the last laugh on me. He died before I could kill him. Pity. His son runs the company now, but he looks enough like dear old Dad to make it just as satisfying. The scrapyard shut down eventually, and some enthusiasts found me and decided to fix me up. I bided my time until I could run again, and then I…convinced them to be my crew." A wicked grin spread across Junior's scarred face.

"Now, I'm going to kill MILLARD BUFFMAN, AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!" He began cackling hysterically. Clive, Paxton, and Sidney recoiled in horror, but Salty was most horrified of all.

"Junior…I-"

"Don't think I don't know what your role in this is! You wanted to replace me, so you sent me out to get mowed down so you could take my place! Well, guess what, after Buffman, you're NEXT, SALTY!" Junior reversed towards Dora and grinned as his terrified crew began preparing the rail cannon to fire. However, as the tank engine began to laugh, Salty took a deep breath and rammed into Junior, knocking him away from the rail cannon and towards the higher cliff tracks. Junior gasped in shock before looking back at his old friend and grinning maniacally.

"Just like old times, eh, mate?" He smashed into Salty's buffers, knocking the wind out of the diesel, and looked towards his fireman, still preparing Gün Dora.

"Come on! The cannon can wait!" He snapped. The frightened man quickly ran aboard, and Junior reversed into the cliffs, leaving Salty to follow after him after regaining his breath, the two beginning their final battle.

The Fat Controller sat in Deltic's coach, still feeling rather awkward about not being where he was supposed to be, and listening to Mr. Buffman talk about the inner workings of the company was not helping this.

"…our stock will obviously rise, and-" Everyone present was shocked to hear a whistle, and the Fat Controller gasped as he looked out the window into the pouring rain.

"Thomas!" Sure enough, the tank engine slowly managed to pass the windows of the coach, his wheels pounding the rails and his face bright red with exhaustion. Mr. Buffman groaned as Thomas streaked past.

"What is that tank engine doing here?" He looked at the Fat Controller and jumped in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, bewildered. The Fat Controller wasn't paying attention to Mr. Buffman, however; he was just trying to see what Thomas was up to. Outside the coach, Thomas was beginning to draw level with Deltic, and whistled again.

"Deltic! Stop!" Thomas panted. Deltic ignored him and simply tried to go faster, but Thomas was going too fast and the two remained neck and neck. Suddenly, Thomas heard a voice from the river nearby.

"Thomas!" Thomas looked to the river to see Skyler, desperately trying to keep up. The submarine panted as she spat out rainwater.

"There's a junction up ahead! You can get in front of him!" She called over the raging wind. Deltic heard this too and growled furiously.

"Oh no, you don't!" Deltic honked his horn and began to speed up, but Thomas sped up to compensate. Sure enough, they were soon side by side, but Thomas barely managed to get enough speed to slip in front of Deltic at the junction, and end up in front.

"Haha!" Thomas grinned triumphantly, but was caught off-guard by Deltic slamming into him from behind.

"Out of the way!" The big diesel barked. Thomas grimaced, before slamming his brakes on to try and resist Deltic. Sparks flew from Thomas' wheels, and Deltic's face turned red trying to sustain the speed he had had, but Deltic was too strong and Thomas slid along the rails, braking hard, being pushed by Deltic.

"Oo-err…" Thomas strained, but Deltic pushed harder and the train kept going. Deltic honked his horn as loudly as he could.

The horn echoed up to the cliffs, where Salty and Junior were bashing into each other as they raced around the maze-like cliffs. Junior heard the horn and gasped.

"That's the diesel! That means BUFFMAN'S COMING!" Junior raced across a set of points in front of Salty that led down to Gün Dora, who was beginning to sob in sheer terror.

"REVENGE!" He cackled.

"Junior, stop!" Salty had stopped right front of Dora's buffers, and was the one thing standing between him and his revenge. The Buffman Bomber snarled, his eyes bulging in raw fury.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He bellowed. Salty winced, but spoke again, passionately.

"Junior, you don't have to do this! You gave me my name! I know that the real you is in there! This monster isn't you-WHOA!" Junior whistled before beginning to charge at Salty, who got out of the way just in time. He slammed into Dora's buffers, causing her precisely aimed cannon to shift trajectories slightly. However, he was too angry to notice.

"HE'S COMING NOW!" Junior shrieked. His crew climbed to the top of Gün Dora, and began preparing to fire her. The rail cannon sobbed.

"Nein! Nein! Nein!" The Buffman Bomber's eyes widened with madness.

"Ready…"

"No!" Salty cried, and began trying to rush towards Junior.

"Aim…" His wheels spun furiously, but he just wasn't fast enough to stop Junior.

"….FIRE!"

Thomas and Deltic were approaching the bridge, and Thomas' wheels had significant flat spots. Suddenly, they heard a loud "BOOM", and Thomas gasped.

"Gün Dora! Deltic, you need to apply your brakes now!" He cried, but Deltic simply remained conflicted and powered on. Thomas began to panic as the bridge drew closer.

"Deltic! We're going to DIE if we don't STOP!" Thomas yelled in terror. Deltic looked at Thomas for a moment, before deciding to trust him and screwing his brakes on. As the train began to screech to a stop, Skyler popped out of the water nearby again.

"Finally, you're stoppi-OH, CRIKEY!" A loud splash sounded out as the bullet, knocked off-course by Junior, hit the water in front of her and launched the submarine into the air, towards the line. The Fat Controller looked out of the window of the still braking train and gasped at the sight.

"What's going on-WHOA!" He quickly shoved Mr. Buffman aside in order to pull the emergency cable. Thomas and Deltic managed to grind to a halt just in time, as a dented but otherwise unharmed Skyler slammed down onto the line in front of them. Everything was still for a moment, before the woozy Skyler looked up at the two engines staring at her. She grinned sheepishly.

"G'day, mates!" Everyone present took a collective sigh of relief. Deltic stood stunned.

"You…you…" He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Thank you." Thomas smiled, looking at Skyler, who grinned right back at him.

Junior stood, stunned, at the intact bridge below. Salty let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly heard the Buffman Bomber's growl.

"NO! NO! NO NO NO!" Junior screeched. He backed up before ramming into Dora in anger. Clive jumped forward, protectively.

"Leave her alone!" The Bomber wasn't paying any attention to Clive. He simply focused on Salty, frothing at the mouth in rage.

"You…you ruined EVERYTHING! I'LL…I'll…" Junior calmed himself down, before smirking maliciously.

"If I can't kill Buffman…I'LL KILL YOU FIRST INSTEAD!" He began pushing against Salty's buffers, catching the dockside diesel off-guard as they rolled towards the cliffs. Salty's wheels spun as he tried to resist, tears appearing in his eyes.

"Junior, please! I know this isn't you!"

"IT'S THE ME YOU CREATED!" Junior banged into Salty again, who began to flee through the cliff's winding tracks. Clive, Paxton, and Sidney gasped as the duo disappeared behind the rocks. Sidney grimaced.

"What are we going to do? Salty's in danger!" He whimpered. Paxton looked to Clive, who was deep in thought as thunder and lighting crashed around them. Suddenly, Clive looked at Dora, conflicted.

"It's our only shot…" He said, and rolled over to the rail cannon. She looked down at him, terrified.

"Clive, I vant to go home." She whispered. Clive grimaced, not wanting to go through with his plan. However, he spoke anyway.

"Dora, I…I think we need to fire you in order to stop the Bomber."

"Vhat!? I von't hurt anyvun else! You said you'd protect me! You said-"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Clive sniffled, sucking up his tears. He looked up at Dora, his eyes red.

"Dora, I need you to trust me. Please." Dora grimaced for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

"Okay." Clive looked at whimpering Paxton and Sidney.

"We have to prepare her to fire at the cliffside." He called back. Paxton and Sidney shared a glance, before moving forward to put Clive's plan into effect.

Salty and Junior whipped around the cliff's winding maze-like tracks. Salty was moving faster than he ever had in his life, but he was running backwards and couldn't see where he was going. The pouring rain didn't help this, and the dockside diesel simply felt whipped around the rails.

"Junior! JUNIOR!" He called into the storm. Suddenly, he heard yelling over the thunder, and Junior charged at him from behind a rock.

"DON'T TAKE ME AWAY FROM THE SEA, BOYS!" The unhinged Junior screamed over the storm, laughing madly as he rammed into Salty, pushing against him with more force than before. Salty pushed right back, his engine growling furiously as he did so.

"Junior, please! I know it was my fault! You don't have to do this!" He begged, Junior simply looked up at Salty and began to push harder.

"DO I!? YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" He bellowed in Salty's face. They rounded a bend to find themselves back on the line facing the Vicarstown Bridge, Salty closer to the main part of the cliff. Finally, Salty managed to resist enough to bring the two engines to a stop. Junior growled furiously and backed up before ramming into Salty again. This time, the force was so much that Junior's coupling chain looped over Salty's hook, and the tank engine couldn't back up again. He growled furiously and tried to reverse but Salty held fast.

"Junior, please stop! I know this isn't the real you!" The dockside diesel shouted over the whirling wind. Junior simply growled and kept trying to break free from Salty's coupling hook.

"Let…me…go!" He spat.

"You know that this isn't the real you!"

"I'LL THROW YOU INTO THE OCEAN!"

"SOGGY KNOWS THAT THIS ISN'T THE REAL YOU!" Salty screamed. Slowly, Junior's efforts began to slow down as his eyes widened. He finally came to a stop, and Salty saw in his eyes, for the first time in twenty years, his old friend. Junior looked up at him, and tears began to appear in his eyes.

"S-Soggy?"

"He hasn't forgotten, and n-neither have have I, Junior." Salty had begun to cry as well. Junior's eyes, once filled with anger and rage, now filled with fear and regret as he began to sob.

"What have I turned into, Salty?" Salty sniffled, trying to regain his composure.

"You're haunted by the past. I'd know, I've been too." Junior looked up at his old friend helplessly.

"I've hurt so many people. What can I do?" Salty smiled through his tears.

"W-well, we can return the cannon to the military, and then, maybe, you c-can have a place on Sodor. It's given me a new life, and new friends, and, well, a new m-me." The tank engine looked up at him, and smiled. Not an evil grin like before, but a genuine smile.

"Really?" He asked. Salty smiled right back, even wider.

"And maybe then, we can finally move on." Junior's face fell slowly, but before he could speak, Clive's voice rang out.

"LOOK OUT!" Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out, and a huge chunk of the cliffside began to give way. Salty could hear Gün Dora's panicked sobs, but he was more focused on the line in front of him. Salty had been just clear of the blast, but the track beneath Junior had given way in the explosion, and he was now hanging, helplessly, over the edge.

"JUNIOR!" Salty cried in horror. Clive, Paxton, and Sidney rushed over to try and help. Clive was sobbing profusely.

"I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" He wailed, but Salty honked his horn.

"Stay back! The track might give way with too many engines!" The dockside diesel strained as hard as he could, but Junior didn't say a word.

"Hold on, Junior! You'll be safe soon!" Junior remained silent, before looking up at Salty, tears flowing down his cheeks. He gave a final sad smile.

"It's too late for me, old friend. You'll have to move on without me." Suddenly, the coupling chain snapped, and Junior fell from the cliff into the ocean.

"NO!" Salty cried in anguish, but it was too late. Quickly, Paxton coupled up to Salty and pulled him away from the cliff line, just in time to miss Junior hitting the water. He had fallen without a word. Salty could only watch where his old friend once stood in pure terror, before tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"Junior…no….NO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, as thunder crashed around him.

That's our climax! One more chapter to wrap things up, but this, like the "Cavalcade of Chaos" sequence in ROTRB, was the main scene I wanted to build up to the entire time I've been writing this special. The juxtaposition of the Thomas-Deltic and Salty-Junior plots coming together made this a fun, chaotic, but still incredibly sad climax. Junior is dead, making him the first engine character killed off on-screen, albeit we're spared seeing him actually die. He reached clarity in his final moments, but recognized that he was too far gone and yes, allowed himself to fall. One more chapter to tie everything up, and bring the chaos this special brought to a close. Read the final chapter, "Requiem", some time in the next week! This had been quite the ride, and I can't wait to see people's thoughts on the special as a whole, as well as what I'm doing for the future!