Unwelcome Guest

One morning, the Big Controller came to the Sheds. Ryu was told that he was to go to the Works for a repaint. He was going to be repainted in the railway's uniform green with yellow stripes. He was delighted, and boasted about it. "I'm going to look so awesome!" he said proudly.
"You'll look just like everyone else!" Naomi laughed.
"Who's doing his work while he's gone?" asked Sora.
The Big Controller frowned. "I know you and No. 12 can't handle it," he said, "so I've asked the Mainland if we can borrow one of their new diesels."
All of the engines frowned. "Yeah, way to go, Ryu," muttered Katsu.
"Cheer up," said the Big Controller. "The new engine's nearly finished, so we won't have to borrow diesels as much anymore."
The engines were pleased with this news, but the thought of one of the Mainland's diesels on their rails still made them disgusted.

Ryu left, and the new diesel arrived an hour later. He had 12 wheels, a long front and back, and a squat cab in his center. He was painted black all over with orange stripes, and his bufferbeam was yellow.
He purred into the Sheds, and the Big Controller introduced him. "Here," he said, "is Raiden. Please help him to feel comfortable during his stay."
"Yes, Sir," the engines muttered.
"And you," the Big Controller continued, looking at Raiden, "be on your best behavior, or you're heading right back to the Mainland. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I got it," Raiden snorted in a bored tone.
The Big Controller glared at the big diesel. All of the engines stared at Raiden. Nobody had ever disrespected the Big Controller before. Raiden just raised an eyebrow at them. "What's with you all?" he said his gruff voice. "Never seen a diesel before?"
Before anyone else could speak, he rumbled away from the shed to work.

Raiden's first job was to collect coal trucks from the mine. Misaki had already shunted the filled trucks into place. She was chatting to Smudger and Joel, two of the narrow gauge engines, when Raiden arrived. He stared at the hoppers and the little engines. "Well," he said bluntly, "never seen anything like this before."
Misaki blinked. "And who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Raiden," the diesel replied. "Now could you hurry up and get me my trucks? I don't have time to sit around like you steamers."
Misaki was insulted. "Hey!" she snapped. "We don't talk like that around here."
"Pah," muttered Raiden. "What's it matter what I say? Trucks, freight cars, they're the same thing."
"That's NOT what I..." Misaki began, before she noticed the number 51 painted on the side of his cab. "What are you doing with that number?" she said crossly. "That's Hiro's number!"

"Hiro?" Raiden said. "Oh, that old timer? I can pull twice as much at twice his speed, all in perfect safety. I don't know why your railway still bothers with steam. It's so outdated and old-fashioned. Once your Controller gets some sense to buy more engines like me, he'll be thankful."
Raiden rolled away with his heavy train. Misaki was furious, and so were the little engines. "What right does he have to say he's better than the Master of the Railway?" Smudger spat.
Joel and Smudger told the rest of the little engines, who told the big engines at the Main Station. By the time Morning Light returned with the Sunlight Express, every engine on the island was angry at Raiden. The big engine found Misaki shunting Raiden's next goods train in the yard. He spoke to her while he took on water in a siding.
"How DARE he!" Misaki was grumbling as she bumped the trucks roughly into place. "I wish we could teach him a lesson somehow."
"Don't waste your time on him," Morning Light said. "It's not worth it. Besides, with his attitude, it's going to bite him in the buffers soon."

Morning Light was right. The trucks had heard the news, and they were cross too. "Who does he think he is, getting every engine on the line riled up?" Grunt the goods van snorted from the middle of the train. "That's OUR job! Let's show him who runs this island, shall we?"
When Raiden arrived to collect it, he could hear the trucks giggling and snickering to each other. "Hey, you lot," he snapped. "No chattering from you. I'm too busy for your games."
"Oh course you are, Sir," said Grunt sarcastically.
What Raiden didn't know was that some of the trucks in the train were the old red trucks from the mine. They were always problematic, especially with their brakes, which could easily slip on. When Raiden buffered up to the train, some of these trucks had their breaks on, and for the first time he could remember, he found himself struggling to start a train.
"Pull all day! Pull all night! We won't go without a fight!" chanted the trucks.

Raiden was infuriated. "Get moving!" he snarled, and he pulled harder, but the train hardly budged. He collected himself and backed up again, and then pulled even harder. There was a sudden jerk, and the train began to move.
"Hah!" Raiden said proudly. "No trucks can beat this diesel!" And he rumbled grandly out of the yard, completely unaware of what actually happened. The coupling had snapped on one of the red trucks, leaving half of his train behind.
He rolled proudly through the valley line as the narrow gauge engines puffed along. "Look at me, little toy trains!" he boasted. "On time and really reliable!"
But the little engines looked more like they were throwing back fits of laughter. Raiden couldn't understand it, so he just ignored it and went on his way. It wasn't until they reached the next signalbox that they realized what had happened.

In the end, Raiden had to go all the way back down the line and collect the rest of the train after delivering the first. Embarrassed and confused, the big diesel hoped none of the engines had heard the news. But when he pulled into the shed that night, the other engines were trying hard to contain their laughter.
Raiden glared at them. "What are you all snickering about?" he grumbled. "It could have happened to any of us!"
"I don't know," snickered Misaki. "Hiro was half your strength and speed, and he's never left a truck behind."
"I... well..." Raiden tried to speak, but he was so tired and cross that he didn't have the will to say a word. "Stupid things," he muttered to himself as the watched the other engines chatter amongst each other.