"Say cheese!" The camera flashed to show the end of the "Winner's Circle" round of interviews. Jinty and Pug stood to the side as Rajiv, Ashima, Henry, and Caitlin stood in a proud line and enthusiasts and reporters alike tried to get as many pictures as possible. Rajiv was particularly attention-hungry, and tried to sneak forwards to get more of his decorations in the photo.
"Check me out!" He declared, but a sharp glance from Ashima caused him to quickly race back into his previous spot in the photo. The Fat Controller, along with a woman who seemed to be Ashima and Rajiv's controller and Mr. Claremont, stood in front of their engines with pride as one of the judges walked up.
"As a part of the Great Railway Show, each controller of a winning engine in an event shall receive a trophy to do so as they wish. For Ms. Charubala Patel's two winning engines, Rajiv in the Best in Show Parade and Ashima in the Shunting Challenge, we have these two trophies…" One of the diesel shunters rolled alongside with a truck converted into a trophy case, and sure enough, inside were two trophies. Rajiv smirked and yawned.
"Another one for the collection!" He boasted under his breath. Ashima gave him a glance.
"Rajiv! Thank you so much, sir." She looked back to the judge with a sweet smile as their controller shook the judge's hand. The judge then walked over to Henry and the Fat Controller.
"For Sir Topham Hatt's Henry of the North Western Railway, he shall receive this trophy for winning the Strength Competition." Another diesel arrived with a trophy case truck, this time with only one trophy. The Fat Controller walked towards it after shaking the judge's hand and saw his reflection in it before smiling.
"Well done, Henry! Really useful inde-oh, goodness, have I had that in my teeth this whole time?" He continued to study the trophy as Henry beamed with pride. Finally, the judge walked towards Caitlin, who blushed from the attention.
"Finally, a trophy for the winner of the Great Race, Mr. Jacob Claremont's Caitlin." Mr. Claremont and Caitlin eyed the trophy truck that yet another diesel brought, before Mr. Claremont smiled.
"You can keep it up at the castle, Caitlin. You earned it. I'd gladly have you back on anytime." Caitlin grinned.
"Thank you, sir!" Ulli rolled alongside, an annoyed look on his face.
"Alright everyone, show's over! Gather your things and start heading out; we need this yard spotless by tomorrow!" He honked his horn and rolled away. The engines rolled out of their positions in the photograph towards their teams. Thomas, James, Philip, and Stephen cheered for Henry as he rolled towards them, blushing modestly.
"Well done, Henry!" Stephen was grinning from buffer to buffer. James chuckled.
"Gordon says congratulations too, but he's still waiting to be checked for damage so he couldn't be over here." He added. Thomas grinned cheekily.
"You certainly showed that bully Vinnie what for, eh?" Henry's smile dropped as he appeared to be looking around the showground. Stephen raised an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong, Henry?"
"Where is Vinnie? I haven't seen him since the crash." James scoffed.
"He's in another part of the yard. Good riddance in my opinion." Henry chuckled thoughtfully.
"Indeed." The Fat Controller walked up.
"Now, everyone, we have a long journey back home ahead, so everyone should fill up on coal, water, and fuel. Once Gordon's ready, we're all going home." The engines whistled.
"Yes, sir!" They split off into different areas of the showground to do this.
Henry had filled up on coal and was about to head off to join the others when he heard a man shouting furiously in a Canadian accent.
"You absolute idiot! You've really done it this time!" Henry raised an eyebrow and rolled forward. He gasped as he saw the man in the grew suit and bowler hat, red in the face, pointing angrily at Vinnie, who looked more scared than Henry had ever seen him before.
"Mr. Anderson, sir, I can explain. It wasn't my fault; it was dat shrimp who got in my way!" Mr. Anderson gritted his teeth.
"It wasn't him that lost, it was you! Do you have any idea how much I bet on you? I'm very in the red, Vinnie, and I'm not happy!" Vinnie winced.
"It was just one mistake, sir, give me another chance."
"I've given you one too many chances already." Mr. Anderson scowled. "Your repairs aren't worth the cost of my humiliation, nor any more money. When we get back to Canada, you will be sent to the most convenient scrapyard. Understand?" Vinnie gasped.
"N-no, please! I won't lose again, I promise!"
"You promised to win this year, and you didn't!" Vinnie continued trying to plead with Mr. Anderson, but nothing seemed to work. Henry gaped.
"No wonder he's so competitive…" He mused to himself. Taking one more glance at Vinnie, he hurried away to find The Fat Controller.
The Fat Controller was talking with the other controllers when Henry raced up, whistling loudly. The Fat Controller blushed and cleared his throat.
"Give me a moment, you two. This should only take a moment." He walked up to Henry. "Henry? What's the matter?"
"Get in my cab, sir. There's something you need to see." The Fat Controller hesitated, before climbing into Henry's cab.
"Er, right, Henry, if you say so." He briefly waved to Mr. Claremont and Charubala as Henry reversed back to the coal hopper. The Fat Controller stepped down, surprised to see Vinnie frozen in fear and Mr. Anderson pressing several buttons on a calculator. The Fat Controller and Henry shared a glance. The Fat Controller walked up to Mr. Anderson, who didn't look up from his calculator.
"Hello, good sir. I'd just like to say that Vinnie here did an excellent job working on my railway." Mr. Anderson snorted.
"Well, he didn't do a good job for me, so I'm selling him to a scrapyard."
"How about I buy him?" The Fat Controller suggested. "Besides a bit of repair here and there, he's in perfect shape." Mr. Anderson finally looked up, staring at The Fat Controller like he had two heads.
"You want him?"
"Yes, if that's alright with you, Vinnie." Vinnie, not sure what to say, tried stammering a response but no words came out. The Fat Controller chuckled.
"Alright then, now, let's get down to it…" As the Fat Controller brought out a sheet of paper and he and Mr. Anderson walked towards a surface to write on it, Vinnie simply watched in shock. He then looked on to where Henry was standing and gave him an astonished look. Henry simply smiled back, making Vinnie look at the rails awkwardly. Soon enough, the Fat Controller and Mr. Anderson returned.
"And now that's settled! You'll get your money in the mail as soon as possible." The Fat Controller finished chipperly. Mr. Anderson rolled his eyes and began walking away.
"It better be…" As soon as Mr. Anderson was out of sight, the Fat Controller's smile fell as he looked back to Vinnie.
"I meant every word of praise I gave you, Vinnie, but I do not tolerate bullies on my railway. I better not hear about any more 'incidents' between you and Philip, nor any of my other engines. Understood?" Vinnie grimaced.
"...yes, sir." He mumbled.
"You have a lot of potential, Vinnie; I hope you can live up to it." The Fat Controller walked back to Henry and into his cab, leaving Vinnie stunned. He glanced at Henry.
"Why'd you do dat?"
"It was the right thing to do." Henry replied simply. "No engine deserves to be treated like that, not even a bully." Vinnie subsided into silence; he had a lot to think about.
Gordon had been moved into the main part of the showground to be checked for damage. He waited impatiently as the engineers fussed over him.
"Come on! I have to head back to Sodor soon!" His driver, who was watching the operation, raised an eyebrow.
"I thought by now you would have learned not to rush repairs, Gordon." Gordon blushed in embarrassment and subsided at this, but he couldn't stay quiet for long. A whistle blasted from the outside line, and Gordon looked to see Flying Scotsman rolling alongside him, smiling. He tried to say something, but he couldn't think of proper words to say, so he simply sat in silence. Gordon sat in silence as well, as they did this for a while. It took a long time for Flying Scotsman to finally break it.
"You were very brave out there today, Gordon, going to save Philip like that at such a risk to yourself."
"It was the right thing to do." Gordon replied simply. Flying Scotsman thought for a moment again, trying to find the right words.
"It was a braver thing than I could've ever done." Gordon raised an eyebrow as his brother sighed.
"Gordon, it's come to my attention that I've said some things towards you that have come off as more...condescending than I intended. The truth is that, well, I respect no engine more than you. I respect the pride you bring to your work, I respect the presence you bring to any group, and I respect your speed, in both design and action. What you did on the racetrack today, saving Philip from that horrid bully, was nothing short of incredible, and it multiplied my already enormous level of respect for you tenfold...Please forgive me for acting in a way that doesn't reflect that respect." The two brothers stood in silence again, before Gordon responded.
"I should apologize too. I've acted extremely immature in my attitude towards you, and I really should have just spoken to you about you making me upset." Scotsman chuckled.
"I guess we both have things to apologize for, eh, Gordon?" The brothers laughed. Gordon grinned at his brother as the laughing subsided.
"Maybe one day we can actually race?" He requested. Scotsman scoffed.
"Please! I'd beat you with my buffers tied together with only one cylinder!" Gordon smirked.
"You're on!" The two laughed loud and long again.
"When are you headed home, Scott? The show's winding down." Scotsman chuckled as he began to reverse.
"Funny you'd say that, because I'm the one taking you home!" He switched onto Gordon's siding and buffered up to him before a shunter came over and fastened the coupling.
"The other Sodor engines are kind of busy, so I'd say it's for the best!" He added, and the two laughed as Flying Scotsman pulled Gordon out of the siding.
Thomas and James were in line at the water tower, talking about the day's events.
"Our events were so boring compared to the other two!" James lamented.
"What do you mean?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"All anyone is going to talk about is Henry winning and Gordon being a hero! All they'll remember about us is…" James' eyes narrowed as two familiar engines rolled alongside.
"...we lost." He finished. Ashima gave a friendly smile to both engines, but Rajiv simply looked impatient.
"Hello, you two! Just wanted to say how much fun it was for us to compete against you, and hope we can face each other again someday." She looked to Thomas.
"I have to admit Thomas, your time in the shunting challenge was very good; you had me on the tips of my wheels hoping to beat you!" Thomas blushed modestly.
"Thank you, Ashima! You were incredible out there!" He replied.
"Thanks!" Ashima smiled at Thomas, before looking back to Rajiv.
"Rajiv? Is there anything you'd like to say to James?" The smaller engine rolled his eyes before forcing a short response out.
"Good game." He grunted condescendingly. James rolled his eyes.
"Good game." He replied, just as unwillingly. Thomas chuckled and gave Ashima a knowing glance.
"Sorry about him; James isn't much of a good sport!" He whispered. Ashima giggled.
"Neither is Rajiv; I think if they weren't competitors, they'd get along great!" The two laughed loud and long as Rajiv and James shared confused glances. Ashima whistled.
"Goodbye, Thomas! Goodbye, James!" She called and rolled away, leaving Rajiv behind. The crowned engine waited for her to be out of earshot before blowing a raspberry at James and scampering away. Thomas laughed hysterically as James scowled.
Elsewhere, Stephen and Stepney were having a chat.
"Your line sounds positively lovely, Stepney! I do hope you can tell me more about it soon!" Stephen replied. Stepney chuckled.
"Well, I do have a visit to Sodor scheduled pretty soon, so you may see me sooner than you think!"
"Certainly say hello to me when you do!" Stephen whistled as Stepney rolled away, whistling back before beginning the journey home.
Meanwhile, Philip was filling up on diesel fuel for the trip back to Sodor. He was ecstatic about being at the show, yet couldn't help but feel a little sad.
"Who's going to believe me when I tell them I went?" He lamented to his driver. He heard someone clear their throat and looked over to see Ulli rolling alongside.
"Before you go, we want you to have something." Philip raised an eyebrow. "The committee admired how you jumped in, Philip. Without you, we would have had to cancel the race. So, to show our thanks…" Ulli broke off as his driver hopped down and handed something to Philip's driver.
"Well, would you look at that!" Philip's driver exclaimed, waving a ribbon in front of Philip's face.
"It's a… participation ribbon. We whipped it up just for you. You did win your own little race, after all." Philip gasped excitedly.
"They'll believe me now! I WENT TO THE GREAT RAILWAY SHOW! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" He honked his horn and scurried away. Ulli cringed but cracked a small smile as he watched Philip leave.
Soon enough, Philip returned to the rest of the Sudrian cavalcade. James and Thomas had Stephen on a flatbed between them, while Henry was coupled tender-first to a resigned and quiet Vinnie. At the front of the pack, Gordon was coupled up in front of Flying Scotsman, and Caitlin was alongside them, hauling both her and Henry's trophies. The Fat Controller climbed into Henry's cab.
"Alright, everyone! Off we go!" The international engines were all waiting at the front of the showground for their ferry, and whistled as the cavalcade rolled by.
"Au revoir!"
"Journey home safe, alright?"
"Bye now!" The engines whistled as they rolled through the gates and began heading home. As they rumbled along, Gordon looked back to Scotsman and began to sing.
"I'm the fastest and best
And on Sodor, I pull the express
Though my brother has all the love and the fame
I'll give him a friendly 'good game'!" Scotsman smiled before singing back to his brother.
"Side by side, we are brothers for forever
Side by side, we stay brothers in arms."
"You help me, I help you, that's an alliance!" Gordon winked, before the two sang together.
"We keep each other far from threat or harm!" The other engines witnessed this interaction and smiled, before joining in on the singing.
"We're a team until the end!" Stephen sang from his flatbed, before grinning at Henry. The green engine smiled back.
"And I'm glad you're my friend!" Vinnie rolled his eyes, only watching the line sliding away behind him.
"Yeah, yeah…"
"If we're a team, will we stay as one?" Philip looked to Caitlin, who grinned back at him.
"Yes! Til the bitter end!" As evening turned to night, the engines trundled over the Vicarstown Bridge, all singing together (of course, except Vinnie).
"Side by side, we'll keep puffing all together
Side by side, better than on our own!"
"As a team, we are stronger and we're faster," Gordon and Flying Scotsman sang together, before everyone else joined back in again.
"Than we'd be if we were alone!" The engines rolled towards Vicarstown station, where tons of engines were waiting for them to return, along with an enormous crowd of enthusiasts. At the front of the pack were Edward, Percy, Emily, and Connor, who were whistling loudest of all as the competing engines sang together.
"We're a team until the end
And I'm glad you're my friend!
If we're a team will we stay as one?
Yes! Til the bitter end!" As the engines braked into Vicarstown station, the enthusiasts snapped pictures. There were Gordon and Flying Scotsman, one in front of the other: brothers, and equals.
THE END
Chase: This story finally comes to an end! A huge departure from the ending of the original in the form of Vinnie being purchased by the Fat Controller due to being sold by his own abusive controller. What Don and I wanted to do was create a way for Vinnie to be sympathetic, and a reoccurring character, without having him be nice, and showing that his controller only entered him in the Great Railway Show in order to bet on him and reap the benefits seemed like the way to do this. While Vinnie will not appear in the Season 21 Redux, he will, however, play a major role in Set 3 and beyond. Just how? You'll see. Stepney's last words are also not a coincidence: he will appear in Set 3 as well, and perhaps be reunited with an old rival...We decided to use the canon version of the finale and simply change the lyrics due to not being able to come up with something that we felt ended the special in a more adequate way, and I believe it was the right call.
Don: Another diversion from the original ending is Flying Scotsman and Gordon manage to reconcile as the former pushes the latter back to Sodor. It was one of the very first ideas we thought of when first crafting this as it was something the both of us wanted to see in the original. Of course, the two will still be rivals, but Flying Scotsman comes across as more caring and involved as opposed to practically being an afterthought in the actual special's ending.
While the special may be over, there's still some bonus content for you all to see! Read the next chapter to see Jinty and Pug interview the contestants of this year's Great Railway Show (and why this chapter took so long to come out)!