As Gordon tore out of the station, Philip returned to the yard to shunt more trucks. Suddenly, however, he heard a voice.
"Philip! I need to speak to you!" The boxcab was surprised to see the Fat Controller walking towards him, holding a clipboard. Philip gasped.
"He's going to tell me that I'm competing in the Great Railway Show!" He squeaked delightedly. A wide grin spread across his face as the Fat Controller approached.
"Philip, I need you-"
"Yes, sir! I'd be delighted to go to the Great Railway Show! Thank you for asking, sir! What event am I competing in? Shunting? Strength? The Great Race? I'd even be happy with the Best in Show Parade, sir! I just really want to-"
"Philip, this isn't about the show!" Philip's face fell as the Fat Controller looked at him with a stern expression.
"Oh...sorry, sir." He chuckled sheepishly. The Fat Controller sighed.
"I need you to collect some trucks from Brendam Docks and bring them back here. It's an easy job, so don't get distracted, alright?" Philip smiled, but he still looked sad.
"Yes, sir." He honked his horn, and rolled away towards the Docks.
Philip soon enough arrived at the Docks, where Salty and Porter were hard at work shunting trucks. The dockside diesel saw him first, and grinned.
"Ahoy, Philip!" To his surprise, Philip didn't smile.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, rolling alongside. Philip sighed, before smiling sadly.
"Don't worry, Salty, it's nothing...what's going on here with you?" He asked. Salty thought for a moment.
"Well, Philip, it's a pretty ordinary day here. We seen anything unusual, Cranky?" He called up to the crane, who was unloading a ship. Cranky rolled his eyes.
"Nothing but ships, ships, and more ships." He grunted, before returning to his work. Salty chuckled and looked back to Philip.
"Like I said, pretty ordinary!" However, as Porter rolled nearby the two diesels while shunting some trucks, a ship's horn sounded out. Porter raised an eyebrow as he braked to a halt.
"That's funny…" He muttered.
"What's funny?" Philip asked.
"There isn't another ship due in for an hour!" Porter replied. Salty looked towards the ferry dock curiously.
"So what's one doing here?" He asked. Suddenly, a ship pulled into the ferry dock, and slowly lowered its gates. As all present watched curiously, a voice with an Indian accent suddenly rang out.
"We're here!" To the shock of Philip, Salty, Porter, and Cranky, engines of all shapes, sizes and colors began to pile off the boat, chattering to each other.
"Finally! A chance to stretch my wheels!"
"Stretch your wheels? I'm ze one pulling your weight, Etienne!"
"Well, Axel, zat is only because I don't have my catenary, no?"
"MAKE WAY FOR A ROYAL ENGINE!"
"Shove it in your funnel, Rajiv!"
"Why can't you all be positive? We're here, innit?"
"Here to win, dear Shane! Brazil shall be the shunting champions again!" Philip watched, mesmerized as the multicolor parade of international engines rolled by. His eyes widened with realization and he gasped.
"They must be from-"
"Hold it! Stop! Stop!" The Dock Manager called out, and the sound of screeching brakes echoed throughout the docks. Cranky groaned and tried to turn away.
"My proverbial ears!" As soon as the whole cavalcade had stopped, the Dock Manager marched over to the engine at the head of the cavalcade. She was painted more colors than Philip had ever seen on an engine, and her tanks, dome, and cylinders were all covered with designs.
"Just who are all of you, and where do you think you're going?" The multicolored engine smiled warmly.
"Well, I'm Ashima, and this is-"
"He doesn't have time for all the names!" A large, menacing tender engine snarked from behind her. Ashima winced, before speaking.
"Well, we're here for the Great Railway Show!" Philip gasped and began to giddily chuckle to himself.
"I knew it! I knew it!" He giggled delightedly like a child on Christmas. The Dock Manager, however, checked his clipboard and frowned.
"The Great Railway Show's not here! You've gotten off in the wrong harbour!" Ashima blushed in embarrassment.
"Oh, yes...sorry. Everybody back up!" She called, and the cavalcade began reversing onto the ferry. To Salty's surprise, Philip shot off like a rocket and smack-dab into the middle of the group of international engines.
"Philip! Come back here!" The boxcab was already in the middle of the engines, chattering excitedly.
"Hi! I'm Philip! I want to compete, just like you!" He chattered excitedly to the Brazilian engine in front of him, who simply rolled his eyes.
"Stay out of the way, criança." Philip honked and he switched lines. As a result of this, a large blue tender engine slammed on her brakes at Philip crossing her path.
"Vatch it!" She snapped in a thick German accent. The other engines began slamming their brakes on too, as Philip tried to whip in and out of the order to try and ask questions.
"How do you get to compete?"
"Look out!"
"I want to be a part of the show with you!"
"Move!" Finally, as Philip approached the ferry, he suddenly felt a force against his rear buffers and gasped.
"WHOA!" As the other engines piled onto the ferry around him, Philip tried desperately to brake. An angered voice spoke harshly.
"Get outta my way, shrimp!" Philip looked desperately around for a set of points, but they were too close to the boat. The other engines had piled on by now, and the boat's gate had began to go up. A female voice with an Italian accent was the last thing Philip heard before the boat began to pull away from the dock.
"Is-a somebody missing?" Philip began to hang over the edge of the ferry dock, and he screeched in horror.
"Stop! Stop! I'm going to fall!" He cried. Finally, the force behind him stopped, and Philip was able to finally reverse, taking a deep breath before letting out a sigh of relief as he rolled around the engine who had been pushing him.
"That was close! Sorry about that, mister...mister…" Philip began to cower as he noticed the other engine's appearance. He was bigger than any engine Philip had ever seen, with eight massive driving wheels. He was painted navy blue and grey, and had handrails covering his face that looked like a mask. His teeth were gritted and his face was red with anger. Philip chuckled sheepishly.
"Sorry!" He squeaked. The other engine roared in anger.
"You idiot! First we got off in da wrong place, and now I've missed da boat! I'm gonna make ya into scrap, ya little twerp!" Philip screamed as the large engine began to advance on him, chasing him through the shipping company building.
"I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" The boxcab cried hastily. The larger engine growled, but was suddenly stopped by a crate slamming down onto the line in front of him. He looked up at Cranky, who was the one who had dropped the crate.
"Calm down, you freak! It was an accident!" The crane snapped. The big engine growled.
"Don't care!" He backed up before smashing through the crate, sending fish flying everywhere. Philip shut his eyes tightly in horror as the bully advanced on him, but the Dock Manager stepped in.
"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded angrily. The big engine snarled and took deep breaths in and out, starting to calm down from having destroyed the crate.
"This little shrimp blocked me from gettin' back on da ship, and now I'm stuck here! I have a railway show to go to, but first I'm gonna mash dat little twerp into pulp!" The Dock Manager frowned as Philip squeaked in fear.
"Well, that's no reason to be violent! I can call the Fat Controller and have him try to get you where you need to be, so calm down! What's your name?" The big engine rolled his eyes.
"Vinnie. Vinnie of Canada." He grunted. Philip let out a sigh of relief as the Dock Manager spoke to Vinnie.
"Well, Vinnie, I'll see what I can do." He walked away, leaving the large Canadian engine to brood. Philip hesitantly approached the larger engine, ashamed.
"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble, Vinnie-"
"That's 'sir' to you, shrimp!" He snapped. Philip winced, shaking with fear.
"Sorry, sir. If there's anything I can do to help you, just l-let me know." Vinnie thought for a moment, before smirking.
"Yeah. Get lost, kid." Philip yelped, and high-tailed it out of the Docks. Salty rolled alongside Vinnie as the boxcab disappeared.
"Wait, PHILIP! You forgot your trucks!" He called, but the little engine had already disappeared. He looked at Vinnie sternly and was about to say something, but the big engine simply raised an eyebrow.
"You trying t'say somethin'?" He snapped. Salty hesitated, before simply backing away. The Dock Manager soon stepped out of his office.
"The Fat Controller will meet you at Knapford, Vinnie, and we'll hopefully get this mess sorted out." Vinnie smirked.
"Hopefully for you." He muttered under his breath, and began to leave the Docks. However, he heard a whistle and braked again.
"Ugh, what?" He snapped. Porter hesitantly rolled alongside, pulling Philip's trucks.
"Um, Vinnie, do you mind if we give you these trucks to take to Knapford too? Seeing as Philip has, um...disappeared." Vinnie raised an eyebrow before looking at Philip's trucks and laughing.
"That? Yeah, sure. Might as well ask me to carry a paperweight!" Porter let out a sigh of relief, and began laughing along, but Vinnie shot a sharp glare at him.
"Whadda you laughin' at, camel?" Porter promptly shut up and rolled away as fast as possible. Vinnie coupled up to Philip's trucks and headed on his way. It was effortless to him. Cranky watched him leave suspiciously.
"Some ordinary day this is." He grunted.
Philip was so terrified that he ran all the way to Knapford without stopping. He scurried over the junction, unknowingly cutting off Percy and some milk tankers.
"Watch out, Philip!" Percy cried, screeching to a halt, but Philip didn't hear as he had already left. Henry was relaxing while taking on water when Philip entered the yard, still screaming.
"Philip? What's wrong?" Henry asked with concern. Philip finally stopped to catch his breath, hiding behind the big green engine.
"Henrythere'sabigscaryengineontheislandandhewantstomashmeintopulpandhe'scominganysecondnowand- AAH!" Philip cowered behind Henry, who raised an eyebrow as a loud, unfamiliar whistle blew. The ballast started to shake as Vinnie came into view with a scowl. Henry frowned.
"Oh." Vinnie pulled into the station, where The Fat Controller was waiting on the platform.
"So you're Vinnie." Vinnie's scowl remained.
"Yeah."
"The Dock Manager has told me about your...situation." The Fat Controller took out his clipboard and tapped his pen on it. "I know you need to get to the Mainland, but right now it's too close to the show to get you there before the day of. However," he continued, seeing that Vinnie's eye was twitching, "in the meantime, I can give you work here so you have something to do." Vinnie gnashed his teeth.
"So now I've gotta work on ya railway just because one of ya shrimps got in my way?"
"That 'shrimp' is one of my engines, and I will not tolerate insults or threats towards him. If you are to work on my railway, Vinnie, you must be respectful to others. Do you understand?" Vinnie rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah." He huffed, not sounding like he meant it. The Fat Controller narrowed his eyes. He scanned the station, and saw Henry on the other side.
"Ah, yes. You said you were competing in the strength competition at the Great Railway Show, correct?" Vinnie raised an eyebrow.
"What of it?"
"Henry, could you come over here please?" The Fat Controller called. Henry, looking to the terrified Philip on the other side of him, pretended not to hear. The Fat Controller raised an eyebrow.
"Henry!" Henry grimaced before looking back to Philip and mouthing "sorry" as he moved towards the other side of the station. Philip squeaked and followed on. Henry soon enough entered the platform opposite Vinnie, with Philip behind him. The Fat Controller beamed.
"Vinnie, this is Henry, Sodor's representative in the strength competition. He'll teach you everything you need to know about working here, seeing as it is quite different to working in Canada! Work well!" The Fat Controller then turned on his heels and left. Vinnie rolled his eyes and began grumbling to himself.
"I'll teach you everythin' ya need t'know, Fat Hatt…" Philip, however, wasn't focused on Vinnie. He was just looking at Henry with admiration.
"You're competing in the strength competition, Henry? That's amazing!" Henry blushed.
"Well, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it." He chuckled, but he was interrupted by Vinnie cackling.
"Wait, he was being serious? You?" He laughed hysterically. Henry frowned.
"I pull the heaviest trains on Sodor!" The green engine protested, but Vinnie simply kept laughing.
"Listen, pal, I hate t'break this to ya, but you're a teeny tiny fish in a big pond. Just based on size alone, ya don't stand a chance!" Henry rolled his eyes, but the barbs were clearly getting to him.
"We have more important things to focus on than the show right now; I have to teach you what to do." Vinnie scoffed.
"Puh-lease. I know what t'do already, okay? Cars are cars are cars; that don't change."
"Well, first of all, we call them trucks here." Philip giggled with laughter at this, but Vinnie backed up to be at level with him.
"We still ain't even, shrimp." The boxcab stopped laughing and gulped. Vinnie smirked wickedly as he passed Henry on his way out of the station.
"Wish I could say 'nice to meet ya', but it'll be even nicer to beat ya...because I'm gonna win." Henry watched the Canadian engine leave the station with fury, while Philip remained cowering in fear behind him.
Gordon tore along the Main Line furiously, his coaches rattling behind him. He was approaching his top speed, but his driver was concerned.
"Steady, Gordon!" Gordon snorted.
"I've gone this fast hundreds of times! What's the concern?"
"We have to keep you in good order for the Great Railway Show, and if we keep this speed up you could burst your safety valve!" Gordon rolled his eyes.
"Stupid safety valve...who needs it? It just keeps me from going at full speed!" He muttered.
"Well, without it, Gordon, your boiler would explode at speeds way slower than this, so I'd be thankful if I were you!" The big engine simply scowled, and kept up his speed. However, he suddenly heard a whistle, and two familiar streamlined engines rocketed past.
"Hi, Gordon! Bye, Gordon!" Connor called as he sped by. Caitlin followed suit and whistled loudly.
"See you at Kellsthorpe, Gordon!" She cheered. Gordon's jaw dropped and he began to slow down.
"B-but, b-but...I'm going at top speed!" He spluttered, before frowning and beginning to grumble as his pace evened out.
"Oh, the shame of it! The shame of it!"
He grumbled all the way to the next station, where, sure enough, Connor and Caitlin were waiting with their passengers. The two were excitedly chatting to one another.
"I won this time!" Connor boasted happily, but Caitlin simply rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Don't get too cocky, Connor; I was this close to beating you!" The two laughed. Gordon rolled his eyes. Connor stopped laughing first, and smirked before speaking again.
"You know what, Caitlin? I think that I've been going so fast that I could end up going to the Great Railway Show!" Caitlin raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if you could go, I could go too! I'm just as fast...if not faster!" She smirked right back. The two engines grinned at each other.
"So, it's a bet then, eh?" Connor chuckled.
"You're on!" Caitlin replied.
"Great. More competition." Gordon grunted. Caitlin, who was closest to him, raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, hey, Gordon! Didn't see you come in!" She remarked. Connor grinned cheekily at the express engine.
"He probably didn't see us pass; we were going so much faster! If he can go to the Great Railway Show, one of us can surely make it!" Gordon scowled.
"I'm just as fast as either of you! I was just...making sure I didn't damage my safety valve, that's all." Caitlin chuckled.
"Gordon, you know that we're faster; just admit it! It's a fact!" The big engine was beginning to get frustrated.
"And why is that?" He snapped. Caitlin chuckled.
"Well, we're streamlined, for starters; a streamlined engine is simply faster than one who isn't, that's all!"
"Any engine who's streamlined probably has a pretty great chance of winning the Great Race." Connor added. Gordon normally would have lashed out, but instead paused, and began to think.
"A streamlined engine is simply faster than one who isn't, that's all!"
"Any engine who's streamlined probably has a pretty great chance of winning the Great Race."
"Hmm…"
"Gordon? Gordon?" Caitlin tried to get the big engine's attention, but he was too deep in thought. She looked to Connor.
"Fancy another race, Connor?"
"You're on!" The guard's whistle blew, and the two streamlined engines raced away, leaving Gordon behind to think.
Gordon was soon on his way back to Knapford with another express, and was still thinking about what Connor and Caitlin had said.
"Maybe...hmm…" He muttered to himself as he braked into the platform. However, his train of thought was disrupted when a loud whistle rang out and James waltzed into the station, beaming with pride.
"Hello, everyone! I'm off to get a new coat of paint!" No one responded. James didn't appear to notice and continued anyway.
"Why, you may ask? Well, it's because I'm going to be Sodor's representative in the Best in Show parade! The Fat Controller just told me! I'm going to blow the rest of the competition sky-high!" He laughed as the rest of the station continued to ignore him. Eventually, he noticed and scowled.
"Why is nobody paying attention to me?" He snapped. Thomas arrived, braking into the platform alongside Gordon.
"Well, James, your competition is all about looks. Some of us have to actually prepare for our competitions; I need to find time to practice my shunting, seeing as I'm competing for that!" He chuckled.
"Quite right, Thomas." Annie replied.
"We support you every step of the way!" Clarabel added. Thomas grinned cheekily at James.
"Besides...I could look better than you anyday! Blue is the only proper color for a really useful engine...I'd just rather show off the 'really useful' part instead!" James seethed, and let off steam to try and hide his embarrassment. Thomas looked to Gordon.
"How about you, Gordon? What are you doing to prepare for the show?" Gordon was about to respond, when he looked to the station wall. A porter was hanging up a poster for the Great Railway Show, which had Flying Scotsman's picture on it. His brother's face seemed to be smirking right at him. Gordon stared at it for a moment, before smirking right back and replying to Thomas.
"Well, little Thomas, I was thinking I could get...streamlined." Everything halted. James' jaw dropped as his cloud of steam finally cleared.
"WHAT!?"
"What!?" Thomas was just as shocked.
"What!?" Annie and Clarabel were as well. The Fat Controller walked over, holding a cup of tea.
"What's all the commotion over here?" He took a sip of the tea before Gordon replied.
"Well, sir, I was wondering if I could be streamlined for the Great Railway Show?" He promptly spit his tea out in shock.
"W-what, Gordon? Why?" Gordon smiled smugly.
"Because, sir, if I'm streamlined, I'll be faster than ever before! I know I could beat my brother-I mean, win for Sodor, sir, if I could receive streamlining!" The Fat Controller thought for a moment before speaking.
"Well, Gordon, seeing as there's only three weeks before the show, it'll be a bit of a time crunch, but...if you really think it'll help you win, I'll, erm, make the necessary arrangements, I suppose." Gordon beamed.
"Oh, thank you, sir!" The Fat Controller walked back to his office, clearly still surprised.
"Gordon wanting to get streamlined...what on Earth is happening to this island?" He muttered. Gordon left his coaches in the platform to go and take a rest on a siding. Thomas and James looked at each other as the big engine passed, still slack-jawed.
"Never thought I'd see the day…" James muttered.
"Me neither." Thomas agreed.
Gordon sat on his familiar siding to take a rest, but was far too excited to actually get any sleep.
"Oh yes, when I'm streamlined...I'll show my brother what for…" He grinned, as he suddenly heard a whistle and Stanley rolled by, shunting a van labeled "Shooting Star Firework Company". Gordon smirked, and began to sing.
"All I want is a bit of redefining
A way for no other engines to be outshining
ME! I shall receive...streamlining!" The big engine began to daydream, and imagined his streamlined shell locking into place around him. A large star shaped insignia appeared on his new shell's running board, and he grinned as he shot out of the siding and towards the main line.
"Whoosh!
Across the rails, a star shoots by!" Gordon whistled as he sped past Spencer in his fantasy, who was visibly shocked by his rival's new appearance.
"Whoosh!
I'll spit right in ol' Scotsman's eye!" Gordon rounded the bend, and saw his brother speeding along up ahead, and he began to draw level.
"Whoosh!
The rails won't hold me down again,
Because when I'm streamlined, I'm bound to FLY!" He accelerated, and was soon enough neck-and-neck with his brother. The Flying Scotsman of Gordon's mind was shocked to see his "brother".
"Gordon?" The streamlined engine smirked back before continuing to sing.
"Here comes the Shooting Star
To defeat the competition!
No more waiting around, I'm an engine on a mission
To get the spotlight I deserve through
Streamlining!" The Shooting Star shot ahead, leaving Flying Scotsman coughing on his dust. Gordon's new streamlined form rocketed along the line, speeding past all sorts of fast objects around him. Connor? Merely a blur. Caitlin? Barely even noticeable. The Shooting Star even managed to pass a rocket flying by in the sky. He smirked widely as Flying Scotsman, Spencer, Connor, and Caitlin tried desperately to keep up with him.
"Whoosh!
You'll wonder who was passing through."
"Passing through!" The other four engines sang backup, though all with the same female voice. Spencer appeared shocked that this voice was coming out of his mouth.
"Whoosh!
You won't believe it's even true!"
"Even true!"
"Whoosh!
But all you'll see of me will be…"
"Doo, doo, doo-doo…" The four engines sang, but Shooting Star simply rocketed onwards and out of sight, merely a blue blur.
"A shiny streak of racing blue!" Shooting Star shot around another bend, and found himself surrounded by stands full of adoring fans, who all cheered for him.
"Go, Shooting Star!
Go, Shooting Star!" A large red ribbon appeared across the rails down the line, and Shooting Star grinned as he began to speed towards it. His fans started to sing backup, with the same voice that Gordon's competitors had sang with earlier.
"All I want is to beat my stupid brother
To be better than the rest and to be like no other
The Shooting Star is Coming Through!" The finish line grew closer.
"Go, Shooting Star!"
"To be faster than you or you!" His wheels pounded the rails.
"Go, Shooting Star!"
"Against me, racing they'll eschew!"
"Go, Shooting Star!" Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down around the Shooting Star as he approached the finish line. He grinned, as the other competitors just seemed to round the corner behind him.
"I'll be the fastest and the best!
I'll be better than all the rest!
My brother I'll leave far behind
For in my dust, he'll be resigned
The Shooting Star is coming through
An engineering marvel of…
STREAMLINING!" Finally, he burst through the red ribbon at the end of the finish line, and he braked to a halt as the crowd (and drums of his song) went wild. Shooting Star grinned, before singing a final high note.
"YEAH!" Confetti and roses rained down around him, and loud cheering rang out.
"Gordon! Gordon! Gordon! Gordon!" However, the voice seemed to blend with another one.
"Gordon? Gordon?" Gordon opened his eyes to see a sheepish Stafford looking at him. He groaned.
"Yes, Stafford?" The electric engine backed up and looked to the station.
"Your next train is ready. Sorry to um, wake you up." Stafford dashed away awkwardly. Gordon, however, kept a smirk on his face as he rolled towards his coaches.
"I'll finally beat him…" He muttered, grinning. Stafford looked back as Gordon passed.
"Did you know that you sing in your sleep?" He asked. Gordon ignored him. The electric engine looked away awkwardly before muttering under his breath.
"...was pretty catchy." He remarked to no one in particular.
Chase: The special's second song, to the tune of "Streamlining" from the actual special, is "The Shooting Star is Coming Through"! Due to Gordon getting streamlined, as that feature is retained from here, we decided to repurpose the song, along with rewriting the somewhat underwhelming ending to a climax with a cheering crowd and insane drum solo. When I can record this one, I totally will, as it's a really fun, bombastic ending. Using Spencer for comedy is also a bit of an unorthodox thing we applied to this song, but we think it achieved a pretty funny result. Now, to address the elephant in the room...
Don: As you may or may not have guessed, the international engine getting the focus this time around is Vinnie! While Ashima was more of a supporting hand in Thomas' story, Vinnie has his own story in this, which we'll see unravel as we go along. Also, Ashima mainly interacted with Thomas in the actual special, while here we see him develop relations with other characters. He has Henry as a rival (though obviously he doesn't see it that way) and Philip, who while he was definitely a victim of Vinnie's bullying, we took it to the next level here. We had a lot of fun bringing him to the Island of Sodor and having him bounce off the other characters.
Just how will Vinnie fit in on Sodor? Find out in the fourth chapter, "Vinnie the Villainous"!