THE BOXING MATCH

A crowd of engines and rolling stock surrounded a large, square platform covered in darkness. Suddenly, white lights began to flash and the engines broke out into cheers and whistles as a platform descended from the ceiling, still shrouded in darkness. Two tank engines stood on the platform, looking down below.

"Ladies and gentlemen, engines and coaches…"

"The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived…" The lights shone down on the lower platform, revealing it to be a boxing ring with one line traveling across it.

"Your favorite game…RAILWAY BOXING!" Jinty and Pug, the sportscaster engines, chorused as fireworks set off all around them and the crowd of engines continued to go insane. Jinty gave his typical enthusiastic grin.

"I'm one of your hosts, Jinty!"

"And I'm your other host, Pug." Pug added calmly before his associate continued.

"Now, let's go over the rules one more time; two engines, one track, three rounds!"

"Whichever engine pushes the other out of the ring first wins." Pug finished. Jinty chuckled as the crowd cheered.

"Now, let's meet our competitors; in the bluuuuue corner, he's a lean, green fighting machine from the island of Sodor you all know and love…"

"A number 3 on his tender, but number 1 in our hearts…" Pug added. He and Jinty shared a look before speaking in unison.

"HENRY!" The crowd cheered, whistled, and honked as a smiling Henry the Green Engine rose from a platform under the ring with a smile on his face.

"Hello, everyone!" He called. Jinty laughed and joined the whistling.

"What an upstanding engine!" Pug snorted.

"Which is more than we can say for our next contestant, Jinty." Jinty scowled.

"I know, Pug, this engine is a bit of a bully! In the red corner…Canada's champion, Vinnie." He had no enthusiasm whatsoever now. As Vinnie rose from a platform underneath the ring, the crowd didn't cheer for him like they did for Henry.

"Boo! Boo!" Philip called from the audience.

"His weak brakes put my passengers in danger!" Connor shouted from next to him.

"He'd hurt an engine with glasses!" Whiff, next to him, added. Vinnie looked rather uncomfortable at the crowd's dislike towards him, but soon saw Henry smirking at him and snarled.

"You're goin' down, Herring!" Henry's smirk only got meaner as the crowd continued to boo and jeer at Vinnie.

"We'll see about that." Suddenly, Toby the Tram Engine rolled towards the outer rim of the ring on a track running perpendicular to it. Jinty and Pug shared a look at each other before smirking.

"3!" Vinnie's eyes narrowed.

"2!" Henry's eyes did as well.

"1!" Toby looked up at his bell on his roof; it wasn't a normal bell, but a boxing ring bell!

"BEGIN!" He rang it to start the match before reversing away. Henry and Vinnie charged at each other before colliding with a loud "BANG" and beginning to push against one another. The match was very close, and Vinnie was red in the face with effort. However, the crowd simply continued to boo him.

"Boo! Boo!" The aggressive engine snarled before trying to add more power, but Henry just seemed to keep pushing him back.

"It's no good, Vinnie; you can't win. You'll never win." Henry grinned confidently. Vinnie growled but his wheels just slipped on the rails as he began to slide backwards. When he looked forward again, he was shocked to see that Henry wasn't pushing him anymore.

"Cheaters never vin." Frieda the German Engine snarled intensely. Vinnie was taken aback and gasped as he continued to slide backwards at a faster pace, the edge of the ring slowly approaching.

"No!" Vinnie cried, and tried to pick up the slack again but Frieda continued to push him, the crowd cheering loudly. Jinty chuckled.

"Looks like Vinnie's on his way to a loss!"

"What a shame, Jinty; but did we expect anything more?" The crowd laughed nastily as Shane the Australian Engine's wheels pounded the rails, Vinnie helpless to do anything against them.

"Cut it out!" He groaned in pain. Shane chuckled darkly.

"Just the game, mate." Vinnie gasped as he felt the ropes of the ring against his tender. He struggled against the force of the pushing engine before opening his eyes and seeing that Hiro was pushing him now.

"No!" He could feel the ropes stretching behind him.

"NO!" The crowd laughed as Vinnie looked up to see Henry sneering at him again.

"Game over, Vinnie." The ropes snapped and Vinnie began to fall out of the ring as the crowd of engines laughed at him.

"NOOOOO-"

"NO!" Vinnie's eyes popped open as he shouted in alarm. His eyes darted around and he realized that he wasn't in a boxing ring; he was still hanging from the hoist at the Steamworks.

"Phew." He sighed in relief; however, it was short-lived.

"Did you have a bad dream, Vinnie?" The aggressive engine turned red with embarrassment as he saw Kevin looking up at him with a smile.

"N-no! What's it t'you, squirt?" He snapped. Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You were talking in your sleep a lot about boxi-"

"I DIDN'T HAVE A BAD DREAM, PIPSQUEAK! NOW PIPE DOWN!" Kevin jumped back, startled. Vinnie's temper cooled and his expression fell into a scowl.

"Is dere a reason you're over here buggin' me instead of fallin' over or whatever it is ya do here?" He asked grumpily. Kevin's smile instantly returned.

"Victor wanted me to tell you that your repairs are almost done and that the Fat Controller's coming to see you." Vinnie rolled his eyes.

"Great…Whoa! Easy!" He snapped as the hoist began to lower him to the ground. As he looked down towards the slowly approaching ground, he noticed the brand new buffers and coupling hook the men had added to his front and snorted. Finally, he felt the rails beneath his wheels again and managed a smile. However, he looked up and saw Kevin still grinning at him, causing him to grit his teeth.

"Scram!" He shouted, causing the crane to yelp and speed away. However, he overbalanced and toppled over with a loud "clang".

"I'm okay!" Vinnie rolled his eyes and grunted.

When Vinnie was completely repaired, the Fat Controller did indeed come to see him.

"Vinnie, before you begin working on my railway, I'm reminding you that I will not tolerate any bullying of the other engines, nor will I tolerate you pushing any of them around just because you feel like you can. Do I make myself clear?" The Fat Controller gave the aggressive engine a stern look. Vinnie grumbled something under his breath.

"Do I make myself clear, Vinnie?"

"Crystal." He replied, only slightly louder than before. The Fat Controller smiled.

"Splendid! Now, Vinnie, the railway board and I have decided to trial you in the Container Yard." Vinnie raised an eyebrow.

"Da Container Yard?…sir?" The Fat Controller nodded.

"Mr. Buffman of Buffman Global gave me a call and asked if I could send one of my engines to help. They've been busier than ever down there, so I want you to work as hard as I know you can; Murdoch will be elsewhere, so they'll definitely need your strength!." Vinnie, however, was still puzzled.

"What is addin' me gonna do if you're takin' dat Murdoch engine away? It'll be just as much work for just as many engines!" The Fat Controller chuckled.

"Well, you aren't the only one going to help, Vinnie." Vinnie heard a whistle and looked up. His eyes instantly narrowed.

"Great…"

"Hello, Vinnie! How was your time at the Steamworks?" Henry called as he rolled onto the transfer table with a friendly smile on his face.

"Fine." Vinnie grunted in reply. The green engine's expression fell when he noticed Vinnie's complete unwillingness to continue the conversation, but before he could say anything else, the Fat Controller continued.

"You two will pick up some flatbeds from Knapford and take them to the Container Yard; from there, I trust you two will work well. Off you go then!" Vinnie whistled and began to puff away, but he noticed that Henry didn't seem to be moving.

"You comin' or what?"

"Just a moment! I'll catch up; go on without me." Henry replied. The aggressive engine rolled his eyes and puffed away. Once he was out of sight, Henry looked back at the Fat Controller.

"Thanks for allowing me to keep an eye on him, sir." He said. The Fat Controller smiled.

"Very kind of you to volunteer, Henry. I was a little worried about how he'd fare on his own; the Container Yard is a very busy place and he could get frustrated easily. Plus, I'm sure Murdoch will appreciate a few good long runs in the countryside while he's doing your work!" The two laughed, but Henry's gaze drifted to where Vinnie had gone.

"I would've thought he'd be a lot happier being back, especially without that awful controller he used to have breathing down his funnel about competing all the time, but he still seems closed off…I hope he isn't still rude to the others." The Fat Controller chuckled.

"Adjusting to new surroundings takes time, Henry. I have faith Vinnie will be a really useful member of my railway; he only needs some guidance." Henry smiled.

"I suppose you're right, sir."

"That's a good engine. Run along now; you've trucks to pull and Vinnie can't take them all on his own!" The green engine whistled and reversed away.

"I better get there before he tries to…" He muttered to himself.

Henry soon arrived at Knapford Yards, where Vinnie was waiting impatiently.

"Come on, where are dose cars? I don't have all day!" The green engine raised an eyebrow as he rolled alongside.

"Are our trains not ready, Vinnie?" Vinnie snorted.

"Duh. Where's dat shrimp? He's 'sposed t'do da shuntin' around here!"

"Well, if I were Philip, I wouldn't be too happy to see you." Vinnie's eyes snapped to the other line, where Stanley was waiting with a line of flatbeds and a disapproving expression.

"What's it to you, pretty buffers?" He snapped. Stanley's eyes narrowed.

"You know, it took a lot to get him out of the sheds this morning once he found out you were coming; I don't know why the Fat Controller would give such a cruel engine another chance." Henry cleared his throat nervously, sensing the mounting tension.

"Are those our flatbeds, Stanley?" Stanley's glare disappeared as he smiled at Henry.

"They're yours, Henry; Philip is coming with Vinnie's in a minute." At that moment, a familiar horn rang and another line of flatbeds crawled into view, being pushed from the rear by a very hesitant Philip. The boxcab seemed utterly petrified, but Vinnie didn't seem to care.

"Hurry up! I'm gonna be late if you don't pick up the pace, shr-"

"Philip." Henry hissed. Vinnie rolled his eyes.

"'Philip'." He snapped mockingly. Philip gently coupled up the flatbeds behind Vinnie before rolling alongside, still petrified.

"Thanks." Vinnie grunted. The boxcab raised an eyebrow.

"Y-y-you're welcome." He stuttered, before racing away. Henry smiled, but Stanley glared at the larger engine.

"That's all you give him? Already wasting your chance to be a better engine! Unbelievable!" Vinnie growled.

"I pull my weight; dat's what makes an engine really useful, silverfish!" Stanley snorted.

"I'll believe that a bully like you is useful when I see it; you won't be able to last five minutes before the Fat Controller sends you away. He probably should've done that to begin with…See you later, Henry!" He whistled before rolling away with a smile on his face. Vinnie grit his teeth.

"YA SEE DIS? DIS IS WHAT STRENGTH LOOKS LIKE!" He blew his whistle as loudly as he could and began to roll forward with his flatbeds, growling furiously. He was so angry that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

"Watch out, Vinnie!" Gordon snapped as he quickly reversed out of the way to allow Vinnie to storm past the water tower with his flatbeds. Henry winced as he began to follow behind.

"Oh dear…"

Soon enough, Vinnie and Henry were approaching the Container Yard.

"We're here, Vinnie!" Henry called, but got no reply from the engine at the end of the train in front of him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Vinnie?" At the front of the train, Vinnie was still worked up from his earlier encounter with Stanley.

"Pah! Actin' like I ain't strong! I'm da strongest engine in da world!…" He snorted through the front gates of the container yard, causing an exiting Murdoch to raise an eyebrow. As Murdoch puffed past Henry, the green engine gave a friendly whistle before following after Vinnie into the Container Yard. The mighty engine smiled, but once Henry was out of sight rolled his eyes at the loud noise before continuing on his way. As the green engine braked alongside Vinnie in the Container Yard, they both heard a horn and saw a rather irritated-looking blue diesel approaching.

"About time you showed up!" Vinnie snorted.

"We're on time, buddy; who are you t'say when we're on time and when we're not?" The diesel's stoic expression didn't change.

"I'm Deltic, Head of Distribution here; I'm your superior for the time being." Vinnie growled.

"Ain't no diesel dat's superior to me." Henry cleared his throat.

"We're happy to be here, Deltic! What do you want us to do first?" At that moment, a short, sharp horn sounded and a funny-looking flat engine rolled into the yard with a line of containers. Deltic's eyes snapped to the approaching engine.

"This is Sogliole; he's our shunter. Anything he brings to you, you pull and deliver on time; Murdoch left you both with big wheels to fill and I'd rather not open up another bag of snakes by not having him here." Vinnie, however, wasn't paying much attention to Deltic; he was absolutely baffled by the tiny shunting tractor.

"You're kiddin', right? This thing is the shunter? He looks like he could barely move a feather if he tried!" The shunting tractor snorted.

"You couldn't be more wrong, big guy; I keep this entire yard running by myself with no problems!" Vinnie laughed nastily.

"I'll believe dat when I see it!" Deltic cleared his throat.

"Parking lotting this discussion; there's work to do. Chat when you're not on company time!" He rolled away, leaving Vinnie to sneer at Sogliole as a concerned Henry looked on. The shunting tractor, however, was undeterred.

"I'll have Curtis load up your flatbeds; use the turntable, get ready for the journey out." Henry smiled.

"Thank you, Sogliole." Vinnie rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks." He puffed away, leaving the shunting tractor to roll his eyes.

"Not exactly friendly, is he?" He noted to Henry. Henry sighed.

"No, he isn't; sorry about him." The shunting tractor chuckled.

"Nothing I haven't heard before. You seem like a nice enough engine, Henry. My friends call me Soggy; wouldn't mind hearing that from you." Henry grinned.

"I look forward to working together, Soggy." Soggy smiled.

"Feeling's mutual." He honked his horn and coupled up to Vinnie's empty flatbeds before racing away, leaving Henry to watch in admiration.

Soon enough, Vinnie and Henry had gotten into the swing of their work. They both worked hard, but the latter quickly noticed that Vinnie was trying to work a bit too hard. Henry puffed into the yard one afternoon to find Vinnie yelling at Curtis the Container Crane.

"Come on! I have work t'do and can't have lazy cranes like you wastin' my time!" Curtis rolled his eyes as he lowered another container onto one of Vinnie's trucks.

"I may…not be a liar, but I… am lazy?…" He muttered. The aggressive engine whistled and roared out of the Container Yard with a determined expression. Henry could only watch in concern as Vinnie raced past. He heard Soggy's horn and saw the shunting tractor roll alongside.

"Hey, Curtis, how many container trains has Vinnie taken today?" He called. Curtis thought for a moment.

"Well…ninety thous-"

"Why did I even bother asking? Either way, big guy's doing enough work for two engines put together." Henry smiled.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Soggy snorted.

"Not when he keeps getting back to the yard before I have time to shunt his next train; I already have Deltic breathing down my buffers about punctuality! Vinnie gets back twenty minutes ahead of schedule and he gets angry when I don't have his trains ready, even though I'm not supposed to! I can't help there being other trains to shunt! I miss Murdoch, he didn't complain…you would think an engine would want a rest!" He muttered before rolling away. Henry could only look on concerned.

Later that day, sure enough, Vinnie returned ahead of schedule again and rumbled into the Container Yard before whistling impatiently.

"Where's my next train, flounder?" Soggy, shunting nearby, groaned as he heard the familiar voice again.

"A sogliole is already a type of fish…" He muttered. Vinnie blasted his whistle again.

"HURRY UP!"

"I'm coming, keep your steam in!" Soggy snapped, and quickly buffered up to a train of loaded container trucks he had shunted. However, he failed to notice that a shunter had put their brakes on; they weren't supposed to move! He honked his horn before beginning to push, but was surprised to find that the flatbeds wouldn't move forward.

"Alright, come on, you lot! I need to get that engine out of here…" Soggy's wheels spun and spun, but the trucks wouldn't budge. Vinnie could see that something was going on, and raised an eyebrow as he puffed closer to the unmoving line of trucks.

"You're gonna make me late!" He shouted. Soggy was now red in the face from the effort.

"Just…a…minute…" He growled. Vinnie could see Soggy struggling and a smirk slowly crossed his face.

"Havin' a bit of trouble dere?" He sneered. Soggy tried to ignore him.

"Nope! No trouble at all!" His engine whirred furiously as his wheels spun in place. Vinnie laughed.

"I'm doin' such a good job that they're givin' me trains the shunter can't even shunt! Back off, flounder; I can take it from here!" Soggy growled.

"No! I'm the shunter, so I do the shunting!" Suddenly, he started coughing furiously and began to back up.

"Hey! Let me keep going! I could do it!" He snapped to the driver. Soggy's driver shook his head.

"You would've blown a gasket if you'd kept pushing, Soggy; something must be up with those trucks." Vinnie laughed at the shunting tractor.

"What a joke! Take my advice, weakling; let da real strong engines do da work while you stay out of da way." He rolled in front of the container train and whistled loudly once coupled up. He failed to notice some workmen releasing the brakes on his trucks before he began to pull out of the yard.

"Dis was giving you trouble? Lighter den air! You really must be weak to find dis hard!" As Vinnie raced out of the yard once more, Soggy grit his teeth.

"But, I…they…ugh!"

Soggy continued his shunting throughout the day, but remained frustrated with Vinnie. He banged the flatbeds around the yard, grumbling to himself.

"Just because I'm small, it doesn't mean that I'm weak!" He complained to Curtis as he shunted another flatbed underneath the enormous crane. Curtis smiled.

"Nope, you're not weak at all!" Soggy rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, real reassuring coming from you, Captain Honesty." The container crane frowned as he lowered a container onto Soggy's flatbed.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better…" Soggy sighed as he began to push the flatbeds forward.

"Thanks, Curt; all the same, I hope we get Murdoch back soon. I really don't want to deal with that brute any long-WHOA!" Soggy gasped as he felt the flatbeds hit something in front of him and winced once the impact of the hit had been processed.

"Sorry! My bad!" He called to the front of the train before rolling alongside. At the front of the container train was Henry, who gave him a smile.

"No harm done, Soggy." The shunting tractor sighed in relief.

"At least it was you, Henry; Deltic or Vinnie would've flipped their lids. Especially Vinnie." Henry sighed.

"Yes…I'm sorry he's been so rude to you. I would've thought being given a second chance would've taught him a lesson but he's just as competitive as before." Soggy snorted.

"Not your fault, Henry; some engines just think they're better than everyone. Wonder how he'd act around someone stronger than him…" At that moment, an idea flew into Henry's funnel.

"That's it!" The shunting tractor raised an eyebrow.

"What's it?" Henry grinned.

"Soggy, I think I have a way to make Vinnie see sense, or at least be a little less rude to you." A smirk slowly crossed the shunting tractor's face.

"I'm listening."

Later, Vinnie returned to the yard to collect another train.

"Hey! I'm here!" However, there was no sign of Soggy, nor any trucks, anywhere. He raised an eyebrow as he looked up at Curtis.

"Where's da flounder? I need t'leave da yard again pronto!" He snapped. Curtis, however, whistled innocently, ignoring Vinnie entirely. The aggressive engine remained baffled.

"Okay…weird." Suddenly, however, he heard a horn and gasped at the sight approaching him.

"Got your trucks right here, Vinnie!" There was Soggy, pulling the longest line of container trucks Vinnie had ever seen…without appearing to try at all! The shunting tractor yawned nonchalantly as he continued moving slowly along with the container trucks.

"By the way, only half of these are yours; the other half are Henry's but I thought I'd bring them all now since, y'know…I can." Vinnie was speechless as the shunting tractor smirked at him. He began to get red in the face as his eyes snapped up to a watching Curtis.

"Dat's…dere's…dat's impossible! CRANE! DERE'S SOMEONE BACK DERE, ISN'T DERE? DERE IS NO WAY DAT DIS…LITTLE FLOUNDER IS STRONGER DEN ME!" Curtis chuckled as he peered around the corner to the back of Soggy's line of trucks…where Henry was helping push him along. He shared a wink with the green engine before looking back to Vinnie.

"Nope, no one back here." He lied. Vinnie growled as Soggy continued to smirk at him.

"Well, that was fun. You can take your trucks now, Vinnie; I need to get back to work." However, before the shunting tractor could move forwards, he was surprised to see Vinnie moving onto the line in front of him.

"OUT OF DA WAY! I'VE GOT DESE BUFFERS AND I'M GONNA USE 'EM!" The aggressive engine started charging forwards the container trucks.

"Yikes!" Soggy yelped and quickly used the points to get out of the way.

"Ouch!" Henry gasped as he felt the force of Vinnie slamming into the trucks from the back of the train. Vinnie's eyes snapped to a nearby workman.

"Couple me up!" He snarled. The workman obliged and Vinnie whistled loud and long before beginning trying to pull the train tender-first. Soggy could only watch on nervously.

"Uh, that's two trains right there, big guy; I don't think you can pull all that." Vinnie growled.

"STAY OUTTA THIS! I'M DA STRONGEST ENGINE IN DA WORLD; YOU AIN'T EVEN CLOSE!" Soggy rolled his eyes.

"First of all, Henry already beat y-"

"UGH!" Vinnie growled as his wheels spun and spun. From the back of the train, Henry gasped as he began to feel himself get dragged along.

"Oh no, he's going to spoil our trick!" Quickly, he began resisting, tugging the trucks in the opposite direction. Soggy cringed as he saw the distance between the trucks starting to get larger as both engines strained.

"Alright, we've had our fun, I think we better wrap this up before something goes wrong." He quickly hissed to Vinnie, but the aggressive engine continued to growl.

"NO! IF YOU CAN PULL DIS MANY BOXES, DEN I CAN MATCH IT! I! AM! MORE! USEFUL! THAN! ANY! OF! Y-" Suddenly, a loud "CRACK" sounded out and Vinnie shot backwards.

"AGH!" Soggy and Curtis could only watch in horror as the aggressive engine flew into a siding tender-first before slamming into the buffers and derailing, falling onto his side with a loud "WHAM". As the dust settled, Vinnie groaned in pain.

"Ow…that smarts…" Soggy's expression was utterly stunned.

"…that's not good." Suddenly, he heard a familiar horn and went as pale as a ghost.

"That's even worse." At that moment, Deltic returned to the yard and surveyed the accident with a stern scowl.

"Well? I'm waiting." He looked at the nervous Soggy, who could only grin awkwardly as Vinnie groaned in pain.

"Well, uh…there was a bit of an accident, boss." Deltic let out an agitated sigh as he looked to the long line of trucks.

"We still have a schedule to stick to; Henry! Get a crane to rescue Vinnie!" Henry puffed out from behind the containers and rolled up to Deltic before wincing at Vinnie. The brutish bully was too dizzy to notice he was even there.

"Right away!" He whistled and puffed away. Deltic looked back to Soggy and Curtis.

"Alright you two; Soggy, you'll have to shunt smaller trains for the other engines that get sent to cover for the loss of those two. Curtis, load them up. Aces in their places, everybody! We have to meet quota!" Soggy spluttered in shock.

"Vinnie's the strongest engine in the yard, and I have a hard enough time keeping up with his trains! How am I supposed to shunt even more!?" Deltic rolled his eyes as he rumbled away to fetch a train of his own.

"It's not a race without a finish line, Sogliole; I expect results, not excuses." Soggy could only watch Deltic leave in horror before looking back to the long line of trucks he had assembled.

"…Well, not much I can do except get to work, isn't there?" He honked his horn and buffered up to the line of trucks before taking a small chunk of them away to be their own train. From his position laying alongside the line, Vinnie finally came to and saw Soggy racing back and forth with container trucks, trying to make up for lost time.

"Huh." He muttered, impressed, but Soggy didn't hear.

The loss of Vinnie threw the Container Yard into overdrive; the Fat Controller sent a few engines to help them cover for it, but Deltic was still rapidly rushing back and forth with container trains needing to be delivered all over the island.

"Next train extrapediately!" He called. Curtis had even more trucks beneath him than usual.

"Loading! Loading! I'll be done in…a second!" Deltic rolled his eyes, but didn't have much time to dwell on it before he saw Soggy racing past with more container trucks.

"On it, boss!" No one worked harder than the shunting tractor in keeping the container yard running; he shunted more trains in a day than he ever had, and despite his exhaustion, pressed on to keep things running. He honked his horn as soon as he had given BoCo his train of containers and the big diesel promptly sped out of the yard. Soggy tried to catch his breath.

"I'll be feeling this for weeks…" He muttered, but let out a sigh of relief as he heard a whistle and saw Henry re-entering the yard with Rocky in tow.

"Finally!" The green engine braked alongside the derailed Vinnie, but Rocky winced.

"Umm…he's a bit big for me to move on my own…this might be a job for two cranes." Soggy groaned as Henry gave him an apologetic look.

"Oh, come on!" He promptly raced back to work to shunt a container train for an arriving James.

Finally, as the day wound down, Henry returned with Judy and Jerome and the Breakdown Train set right to work and getting Vinnie upright again.

"We've got you, Vinnie!" Judy smiled.

"You should be upright again in no time!" Jerome added. Vinnie grit his teeth at first but let out a sigh of relief when he felt the rails beneath his wheels. Across the yard, Soggy buffered up the final container train of the day to Deltic, and the big diesel honked his horn.

"Well done, Sogliole; exactly on schedule. Keep it up for tomorrow!" He promptly rolled away, causing Soggy to gasp in exhaustion as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Oh, I'll be feeling that in my wheels for weeks…I never want to do that again…phew…"

"Dat was pretty impressive…for a little engine." Soggy looked up in surprise as he saw Vinnie looking at him from across the yard; not with a sneer, but with a look that could almost be described as…impressed?

"Thanks." The shunting tractor replied, caught off-guard. Vinnie sighed.

"Look, I know I'm not a super nice guy. I've never really had a job where I'm expected to succeed, and I guess I kind of…overcompensated a little. Running a yard dis big by yourself is hard, and I shouldn't have taken my own stuff out on you…I'm sorry for pushin' you around." Soggy was taken aback at first, but smiled.

"Yeah, you aren't the nicest guy, but then neither am I, am I?" The shunting tractor chuckled. Vinnie looked down at his new buffers, now scuffed from his accident.

"Everyone else on dis railway seems to want me gone…can't blame 'em. I would want me gone too…" He took a deep breath.

"…I haven't told anyone that before." Soggy smiled.

"Well, even if you could do with a bit of an attitude adjustment, you certainly pull your weight and I would call you useful. Sorry for pushing your buttons and getting you in this mess to begin with." Vinnie smirked.

"My fault, bud." The shunting tractor grinned.

"One useful engine to another; I think we both know that this changes things a bit. You've got a second chance-"

"Third chance now." Soggy cleared his throat, causing the now less aggressive engine to fall silent.

"Take the chance; try to improve. As much as I'm not going to miss being called a flounder, I think we'll miss your work ethic and I think you should try to have a more pleasant attitude to go with it." Vinnie looked down, but gave a small smile.

"I guess I'll try." Henry, watching the conversation from nearby, smiled as he backed onto the big engine.

"Victor and Kevin should iron out your problems pretty quickly, Vinnie, and you'll be back to work as good as new in no time." Vinnie grunted.

"Good." He replied quietly. Henry looked to Soggy.

"The Fat Controller said Murdoch will be coming back tomorrow; thank you for making us feel welcome in your yard, Soggy." He then looked back to Vinnie to make sure he wasn't paying attention.

"And sorry about the trucks." He whispered. Soggy smirked.

"Whatever could you be talking about?" He winked. Henry laughed.

"See you, Soggy!" He whistled and began to pull Vinnie out of the Container Yard. Soggy honked his horn at the two departing engines. As Henry puffed along, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Nice to meet ya, Soggy." Henry chuckled at Vinnie's quiet remark.

"You know, Vinnie, only his friends call him Soggy." Vinnie raised an eyebrow.

"Friends?" Henry grinned.

"I'd say that's what you two are now, wouldn't you?" Vinnie didn't reply, but Henry knew he had a lot to think about as the two engines puffed to the Steamworks.

THE END

Developing two new elements from a special simultaneously (Vinnie and the Buffman Global characters) was definitely ambitious, but I think it came together rather well! Vinnie's first story out on the railway shows he still has a long way to go in getting over his tendency for bullying, but unlike with Philip (thus far anyway), he comes to respect Soggy at the end of this story and is now going to try to improve his attitude a bit...no matter how difficult it may be! Putting Soggy the Shunting Tractor into the spotlight was great as well, and his perpetually overworked and somewhat grumpy persona was a joy to put up against Vinnie, as well as showing his interactions with the stoic Deltic the Goods Link Diesel and compulsively lying Curtis the Container Crane in their first spotlight since Thomas & The Buffman Bomber! This story's original title was "Soggy the Strong", but my friend, enterprisingengine93 on YouTube and Twitter, suggested "The Boxing Match" as a title and immediately gave me the idea for Vinnie's dream at the beginning, featuring the return of Jinty and Pug in their Sportscaster roles from The Great Race. The photo of Soggy used as the promo for this story was made by GoYourOwnWay196 on Twitter, who also made the other custom CGI promos for this set. Super excited to go forward with both Vinnie and the Buffman gang, and tell me what you thought of this story as well as what you're looking forward to!

As always, what's next:

- Against the Crane - Kelly the Crane is called to help repair the small railway's ballast hopper after Judy's loose crane arm knocks it after, but the small engines, especially Mike, are none too keen to have a massive crane around after the accident, causing Kelly to try to prove that cranes aren't dangerous at all.

- Railway Cop Roy - Sergeant Roy quickly finds himself very bored while working as a traffic officer near Knapford station due to Detective Regan falling ill, but soon discovers a railway handbook sitting on the station platform and reads it cover-to-cover, causing him to enforce the rules of the railway on any engine who enters his domain…which the engines are not happy about!

- Blisters! - After crashing through the back wall of the shed, Frank is forced to spend the night at the ballast mines where the infamous Blister twins, two diesel shunters who were allegedly sent off to the mines after demolishing a shed and being declared too dangerous to work on the railway, live, and tries to survive without incurring their wrath.

- The Horse & Cart - Duke and Cora the Tool Van tell Thomas and the other engines the story of how the reckless Smudger learned to be patient while managing the slow goods service on the Mid-Sodor Railway by learning the value of a horse and cart that repeatedly holds him up at the crossing.

- Over Your Headcode - Fed up with delays and waiting, Vinnie decides to put his lamps into an express headcode while working on his heavy goods trains so he can get special benefits, not realizing that he's headed for disaster after speeding through a danger signal and straight towards the cleanup of an accident.