Thanks to RosieAngelina and all others for reviewing!
And cue the theme!
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YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FROM ME!
START THE NEXT EPISODE! START THE NEXT ONE!
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One winter's evening (It had all been winter in previous escapades. This had not been made clear to many engines, who were concerned that they were trapped in some sort of freaky Groundhog Day loop.) Mr Carlin said. "We're out ******* early tomorrow!"
"Why?" asked Henry, pleasantly enjoying the sensation of Welsh Coal in his tender.
"We've got to take the Flying Kipper!" The Fireman said chirpily. After Henry let out a groan, he leaned down and whispered conspiratally in his...where his ears would be. "Now don't tell Gordon, but if we pull the Kipper nicely, the Fat Controller will let us pull the express. I mean look at the special coal! It's working well!"
"HURRAH!" cried Henry. "That will be lovely."
"GO TO SLEEP!" roared James from the next shed. "And what's that about the express?!"
Henry shut up.
...
All ships use the harbor at the big station by the sea. The harbor had randomly sprung up over night like a plant, and no one had really understood how this had happened so quickly without any assistance via engines. There are passenger ships, cargo ships and fishing boats that also come here. Also, on one or two occasions a cruise ship landed there with the main occupants being ravers. But they didn't like to talk about that.
The fishers unload their fish on the quay, mostly to annoy the workmen who work there. Some of it will go to shops in the town, some are nicked by greedy workmen to eat, and the rest go in a special train to other places far away. This raises the interesting question of why the fishing boats didn't use other harbors that had mysteriously appeared, but the answer to that was the Fishermen were drunk.
This train is what the railway call...slow. Also, the Flying Kipper.
At four o'clock, Marklin examined the route that Henry would go when he took the train. He then set off to make sure that his plan to eliminate any witnesses supposedly to his mistakes went smoothly.
Henry was ready at five o clock, and he was quite possibly the happiest he'd ever been. Maybe it was the coal, maybe it was the feeling of peace or maybe it was just the beautiful scenery.
A suspiciously Ringo Starr looking workman checked his watch and gestured. There was snow and frost covering the Island. Men hustled and shouted, loading the vans with crates of fish. The last door banged, the guard waved his green lamp (And then his fist because he had hit his hand on the side) and the Flying Kipper was ready to go!
Mr Carlin spread sand from the sandbox onto the tracks, giving Henry the chance to grip the wheels. In one, suspiciously flat looking van, a orchestra began playing a tune.
"Come along, come along!" huffed Henry as he started. The vans shuddered and groaned, for they were old and wanted a nap.
"Trock trick trock trick!" They said, screaming their favorite Death Metal song. "ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT!"
"The hell did you just call me?" asked Henry as he left the Harbor.
...
"That is better, that is better!" huffed Henry as he pulled through Knapford. He had never felt so happy. He whistled aloud, waking up several neighbors who began to make complaints.
Clouds of smoke and steam poured from his funnel into the cold earth, and the fire's light shone bright. Henry laughed recklessly. It was night, but with the glow of the yellow sun, he could see all the glory and beauty of nature around him, free from any pollution. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "Hurry hurry!" he chuckled, steaming ahead.
The cold air and beautiful nature infected even Mr Carlin, who was humming to himself with such passion that not even the Fireman could correct him on how out of tune he was.
They were doing well. The light grew better and the signal-lights shone green as they passed. "I wonder what James would think of this!" enthused Henry. "Probably look at himself in the water. I mean the last thing he told me was to shut up and let him sleep!"
They crossed the viaduct, and Henry looked ahead. "Hang on. Yellow signal!" Mr Carlin moved to shut off steam, but the home signal was down.
"Odd." muttered the Fireman.
"Never mind!" Carlin leaned out. "All clear Henry! Away we go!"
"Hooray!"
They couldn't know that Marklin had taken advantage of the points freezing over, for the home signal had been set at danger before snow had forced it down.
...
James sighed. "What I wouldn't give for Thomas's ciggies right now?" He stared mournfully off, before his mind went back to his favorite topic: Himself. He was pulling a goods train, which had stopped to let the Flying Kipper pass.
The driver and fireman were playing cards and drinking cocoa in the guard van. "The kipper is due." said the driver. "No, the train!" he snapped at the fireman, who had decided to look at the stove.
"Who cares!?" said the guard, who was drunk. "This is good cocoa!"
The driver stood up. "Come on mate, back to our engine." The guard followed him out.
They had left just in time.
Henry came round the corner, his life feeling like it couldn't get any better. He sped forward and stared at the guard's van. "What-" He asked in confusion.
In the cab, everything happened in slow motion. The Fireman and Carlin stared at each other.
"GET OUT!" roared Carlin.
"We can't leave Henry!"
"We have to get ourselves home safe first!" Carlin suddenly felt unbelievably emotional towards the green engine. "I'm sorry!" He shouted, before pushing the fireman off into the snow bank.
Henry didn't even get a chance to close his eyes. He smashed into the brake van and felt his wheels leave the rails, and then come back down on wood that was definitely not part of the rails. He rolled forward, smashing through truck after truck, before he wobbled, and with a slight push from a slight piece of wood, he toppled over, hitting the side of the tracks with a massive smash.
James screamed, and hurried off immediately. He reversed back onto another track, ready to give the fool a piece of his mind.
"HENRY! YOU BLITHERING IDIOT! YOU- You...you-" He stared.
Because for the first time, Henry the Green Engine wasn't responding to a jibe made by him.
In fact, he wasn't responding at all.
"Oh no." James whispered.
...
Henry came too around about ten in the morning. He lay there dazed and surprised, and was sure he was dead because James was moving rescue operations around at the speed of a actual responsible engine. He could vaguely hear Edward desperately demanding that the workmen leave the fish and just pull what remained of the Flying Kipper out of the way.
"Have you got in touch with-"
"Thomas and Percy are ready to help if we need them! Gordon can't, he's too busy taking the express on his own. But he...well he wants him to get better so he can shout at him some more."
Henry frowned. He tried to speak, but for the moment, he couldn't. And then, the Fat Controller walked up.
"Henry!?" He shouted in horror "HENRY!? ARE YOU OKAY?!"
Henry licked his lips. "The signal...was down sir." He whispered feebly.
Hatt sighed with relief. "I know, I know. It's not your fault Henry. Ice and snow caused the accident." He looked back, as James's crew and the guard were given new cups of cocoa. Carlin and the Fireman were pacing up and down in horror. "I'm er, sending you somewhere."
"Not the scrapyards?!" wheezed Henry in horror.
"No! No, I'm sending you to Crewe. It's a fine place for sick engines. They'll fix you up good, give you a new shape, a larger firebox, you won't even need special coal anymore! Won't that be nice?!"
"Yes sir." said Henry, doubtfully. For he was aware sadly that last night had been the most beautiful night of his life. And now it had gone.
...
He wasn't wrong. That was the most beautiful night of his life. But the most beautiful day of his life was when he came home, two weeks later. He liked being at Crewe, but was glad to come home again.
Much to his delight, there was a crowd of people on the station as he entered, waiting for him. He looked so splendid in his new shape that they gave him three cheers.
"Peep peep!" he shouted back gleefully. "Thank you very much!" And he vanished into Wellsworth.
...
And I am sorry to say, that a lot of little boys are often late for school because they wait to see Henry pass by. And when they do, they often see him pulling the Express.
He had stolen it.
He did it so well that Gordon was jealous. In fact, when Henry had passed him by on his first day back, he gleefully whistled so loudly that the big blue engine jumped in the air.
But that, as they say, is another story.