Theme is being CUED UP!
...
Fix that thing mate?
Hmmm? No, actually, for whatever reason it's getting more and more frequent...it's a mystery, I tell you. Now, Ringo, new character being introduced...
...
"Do you know what?" asked Percy.
"What?" grunted Gordon.
"Do you know what?"
"Not personally, no."
"Do you know what?"
"Silly beggar!" snapped Gordon. "Of course i don't know what! If you don't tell me what what is, then how can I know that the what you're talking about is the what that I know!"
There was a pause as both James and Percy tried to wrap their heads around this rather odd statement, before Percy continued on. "The Fat Controller says that the work in the yard is too heavy for me. He's sending a bigger engine to help."
"RABBISH!" said James.
"What!?" echoed Gordon and Percy at once.
"What do you mean, what?"
"What was that word you just said?!"
"Rabbish!?"
"RABBISH?" Gordon said loudly. "What the hell is that?"
"It's that red thing that's like a vegetable." Percy explained.
"No, that's radish!" snapped another truck.
"Wait, do you actually mean rubbish?" Gordon asked in shock. "Because you were far off what it actually sounds like!"
"Maybe you're not pronouncing it right!" James fumed, before turning back to Percy. "Any engine could do that work! If you worked ore and chatted less, this yard would be a sweeter, better and a happier place!"
Percy stared. "Now that's harsh even by your standards." Angrily, he went off to fetch some coaches for some person or another. It had been two weeks since Signalgate, as it had been inevitably been christened, and thus far so many jokes had been directed at him it had lost what little humor it possessed and became a nuisance.
"That stupid bloody old signal!" he snarled, as he remembered the misunderstanding and had gone backwards instead of forwards. "No one listens to me now, they think I'm a silly little engine and order me about!" He puffed grimly. "I'll show em! I'll show em!"
The only thing that stopped him from going on a serial killer style rampage was the fact that he didn't know how.
By the end of the afternoon he felt tired and exhausted. More so than usual. He brought some of the coaches for Henry's next train to the platform. He sighed and began considering heading to the Sidings to get drunk when he noticed a figure.
"Hello Percy." said the Fat Controller, in a chipper mood for some reason. "You look tired."
"Not half sir." said Percy, his usual polite manner evaporating. "I don't know if I'm standing on my dome or my wheels."
"You look the right way up to me." laughed the Fat Controller, but in that split second his mind went into overdrive. It was clear that Percy was somewhat unhappy, and there had been several cries for help that the Controller had ignored in the hope that it would go away. But it hadn't, and Percy was going down the Thomas route once more, of teasing engines and then getting comeuppances.
So Hatt made a quick choice. "Cheer up, the new engine will be here soon! He's bigger than you, and can probably do the work alone. Would you-" And here you would not be able to tell but for the slight hitch in Hatt's voice that he was seriously running over all problems in his mind. "-like to help build up my new harbor? Thomas and Toby are going to be helping."
Percy grinned. "Oh yes sir! Thank you sir!" He puffed off to the yards to await his next order, and the Fat Controller congratulated himself on a smart choice.
Now all he needed to do was meet the new engine and he could go home and...arrange a date.
...
And soon, the new engine arrived. He had a shrewd, cunning look about him, like he was already aware of many things that no other engine was. He looked over his new surroundings with a slow, laid back interest.
"What's your name?" asked the Fat Controller.
"Montague, sir. But they usually call me Duck. They say I waddle." Duck fixed Hatt with a glance. "I don't really, sir. But I like Duck better than Montague."
Hatt had the feeling that he was being examined and judged just as much as he was examining and judging Duck. "Good. Duck it shall be." He coughed, and Percy puffed up besides him.
"Here Percy! Show Duck round." Sir Topham turned. "Oh damn it! Look, there's another old truck!" He hurried off to see the truck, which was more a excuse for him to ignore Duck's penetrating gaze.
The two engines went off together. Soon they were very busy. Percy was unsure about the engine. He seemed a decent sort, and he hadn't insulted him or made cracks about signals just yet, but still...there was something that indicated a kind of calculating intellect.
...
Duck pushed some of the red coaches, that had replaced the green coaches over the years, into Knapford for one of the other engines to take. Gordon, Henry and James watched Duck quietly do his work.
"Seems a simple sort of engine." Henry muttered.
"How about some fun?" lazily asked Gordon.
"We'll have some fun and order him about." James snickered.
Duck, of course, heard everything, but said nothing, just kept the expression of a lowly country bumpkin on his face as Henry and Gordon moved out, making utterly ridiculous quacking noises as they did so.
And then:
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH.
Smoke billowed everywhere. Duck coughed, but was surprisingly okay about it. Percy growled as he puffed through the smoke. James, meanwhile, had been howling so hard at this spectacle that he was late for his own train. As he hurried off, feeling redder than ever, Percy puffed besides Duck.
Percy was cross, but Duck took no notice. "Percy." He said casually. "They'll get tired of it soon. The other engines at my railway did."
"These aren't your typical engines." grimaced Percy. Duck examined his friend's face, noticed the slight tick in his face and, keeping the same expression, probed further.
"Do they tell you to do things Percy?"
"YES THEY BLOODY WELL DO!" answered Percy angrily.
"Right!" said Duck, his voice finally achieving something of a interesting tone to it. "We'll soon stop THAT nonsense!" Percy looked doubtfully at him, but Duck merely laughed and said. "Ah Percy. Once you get to know me, you'll understand...how shall I put this? I'm a bit of a revolutionary. Now-" He whispered something to Percy, who grinned steadily more and more wider. "We'll do it later!" Duck puffed off in one direction, and Percy in another.
...
The Fat Controller was looking forward to hot buttered toast for tea at home. He was also busy examining his bit of crumpet. "Hmm? Why yes Alice dear, I'd love to go out again. How about...tomorrow? Maybe? All right the-"
There was a extraordinary noise! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH! And then what sounded like a lot of pigs oinking at once.
Hatt got up, stared outside and growled. "Alice. I'll call you back." He slammed the phone down. "BOTHER!" he said, wiping his mouth. He grabbed his hat and hurried to the yard.
...
At Tidmouth, Duck and Percy sat calmly on the points and turntable outside the shed, refusing to let the engines in. The oinking noises had been a vain attempt to get Duck riled enough to attack the three engines. As for that Duck, he was grinning lazily once more, but this time his eyes had steel in them. Gordon, Henry and James were, not surprisingly, furious.
Whistles were being blasted, words were being swung like loaded weapons and it was upon this scene that the Fat Controller ran in and belted out. "STOP! THAT! NOISE!"
"THEY WON'T LET US IN!" hissed Gordon.
"AND MY TRAITOR OF A EX-DRIVER'S JAMMING THE TURNTABLE!" howled Henry.
"VIVA LA REVOL-" Carlin sighed. "I'll...I'll go home."
"Good choice!" snapped Hatt. "Well Duck?"
Duck's smile, dripping with awareness and 'Look at me, aren't I the Cat's Pyjamas', changed not one iota. "Beg pardon sir. But I'm a Great Western Engine."
"Oh god, your previous owner said you went on a bit about that."
"We do our work without fuss. But, er, begging your pardon sir. Percy and I would be glad if you inform these, uh...engines, for lack of a better word, that we only take orders from you."
This officially set the engines off again and whistles echoed across the yard.
"SILENCE!" snapped the Fat Controller. Everyone shut up, as he hadn't used that tone of voice for a while now. "Percy and Duck, I am pleased with your work today but not with your behavior tonight! You have caused a disturbance."
Duck put on a sad expression, but internally he was counting down in his head. Gordon, Henry and James sniggered. It was a fatal mistake.
"AS FOR YOU!" snarled the Fat Controller, whirling around. "You've been worse! You are indirectly responsible for this disturbance! Duck is quiet right. It's my railway! And I'm making the rules!"
"But-" stuttered all three engines, all three realizing with a rapidly rising horror that they had been played.
...
After Percy went away, Duck was left to manage alone.
He did so.
Easily.