Henry returned to Tidmouth the next morning, but something seemed different: the Hybrid was sporting a set of square buffers. Gordon didn't like it.
"You…you…THOSE ARE MY BUFFERS!" Gordon shouted. "THIEF!"
"Now you and I can be twins!" Henry declared proudly. "Especially with my Buff-Buff-Buffers! Oh boy, do I feel so grand!"
"I refuse to be seen as the twin of a failure like you!" Gordon snapped. "You change your buffers right now!"
"No way, fathead!" snapped Henry. "You don't own square buffers!"
"Listen here, Henry," Gordon growled. "Those buffers make me unique. I refuse to share that with YOU! Ian, or Dante, I'd have no problem. But YOU…well, you can guess."
"Yes, you're jealous," Henry said. "Jealous that I can look like you."
"No I'm not!" protested Gordon. "Why would I be jealous of an engine who hides in tunnels when it rains?"
"At least I don't get stuck climbing hills!" snapped Henry. "Neither do I burst my safety valve, nor do I wreck stations."
"Those were out of my control, and you know it," growled Gordon.
"Sure. A ghost. Very believable," James put in.
Over the next few days, Henry would puff proudly, showing off his "Buff-Buff-Buffers" to everyone. His illness returned, however, and he arrived at the Junction late.
"Where have you been, lazybones?!" asked Thomas crossly.
"Oh dear, my system is out of order. Nobody understands my case. You don't know what I suffer," moaned Henry.
"Rubbish!" snorted Thomas. You're too fat,you need exercise."
"Please, I'm fat? You're the one with extended sidetanks. If anybody's fat, it's you."
Before Thomas or Conan had anything to say, a bunch of kids were surrounding Henry.
"Look, It's Gordon!" a girl called. Henry, seeing this, decided to play along.
"Yes, that's me: the strongest and fastest locomotive on the Island of Sodor!" he declared proudly.
"Uh, hullo, he's got a golden chimney cap!" Thomas shouted, but nobody paid attention to him.
"It's time we left, anyway," Annie put in. Sure enough, Thomas' guard blew his whistle.
"Peep peep!" answered Thomas, and he started off. His guard turned around to get into Clarabel, but ended up tripping over a lady's umbrella and falling onto his face! Luckily, Clarabel noticed, but not quickly enough: Thomas was already puffing out of the station. The guard blew his whistle and waved a red flag, but by then, Thomas was too far away. Of course, we all know what happened next.
Henry couldn't help but laugh.
"And he says his line is important," scoffed Henry.
Later, Emily puffed into Wellsworth at the same time Henry arrived.
"Hullo, Emily! How do you like my Buff-Buff-Buffers?" Henry asked.
"Well," said Emily slowly, "they're…"
"Grand, right? Of course. After all, Gordon wears them all the time, and now I'm just as good as him," Henry boasted.
"You young engines are so full of yourselves," groaned Emily. "Buffers are just buffers, square or round."
"Hey, Gordon started this."
"I don't care…ouch…still sore…"
"Getting old, girl," Henry said. "Maybe it's time you retired and went into a museum."
"Retire?! Look here, Henry…"
"I can't look," Henry interrupted. "My guard just gave me the all-clear. Now watch, as I race up my hill!"
Henry started off with quite a jerk.
"OOH!" screamed the coaches. "Be gentle, be gentle!"
The signalman had made a mistake, however. Either that, or the guard had misinterpreted the green signal. Instead of going up the hill, Henry found himself turning onto the branch line!
"Hey, what's going on?! This isn't the main line!" Henry shouted. And he applied his brakes. "Driver, take me back, please!"
"I'll need the signalman's permission first," said the driver.
After receiving permission, Henry went back to the junction. He then set off once more, determined to make up for any time lost. While he was only on a stopping train, the idea of keeping to time as well as Gordon was on his mind.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" he puffed, as he struggled up Gordon's Hill.
"There's plenty of time! There's plenty of time!" grumbled the coaches.
Sure enough, Henry was only a minute late when he finally made it to Maron.
"Say, I'm surprised I've not felt ill since this morning," he remarked.
"Maybe you got better coal today?" remarked Ian, pulling into the other platform.
"Not sure what on earth makes you say that," snorted Henry. "Coal is coal."
"I've heard some coal can give better results than others," Ian said.
"Pah!" scoffed Henry. "There's nothing supernatural about coal!"
"This isn't something supernatural," said Ian.
"It might as well be," snorted Henry.
"Ask Olive. Her railway uses Welsh Coal"," said Ian.
"I'll ask her later," snorted Henry.
Henry never did get to ask her: the one time they met, Olive had rushed past with a fast goods. Eventually, Henry arrived at Vicarstown. On the platform were a crowd of people. They were waiting for a train, but in Henry's mind, they were waiting for him.
"Buff-buff-buff-ers! Buff-buff-buff-ers!" he chanted proudly.
"Lame…" 98462 snarked. Henry took no notice. So much so he forgot to look where he was going.
"Buff-buff-buff-ers! Buff-buff-" CRASH! Henry bumped into the buffer stop. He wasn't going too fast, but something was still damaged.
"My…My…MY BUFF-BUFF BUFFERS!"
Luckily, the damage could be repaired easily at Crovan's Gate, but much to Henry's dismay, they had no square buffers left.
"N-no s-s-s-square b-b-b-buffers!" sobbed Henry. "Oh dear, oh dear!"
"Cheer up, Henry," said the Fat Director, and he patted the boiler kindly. "Your paint is getting dirty, would you like a nice coat of green? Then you'll be able to almost look like Gordon before he got square buffers."
"Oh, thank you sir," he said at once. Henry couldn't help but feel pleased. "So what will happen to those buffers?"
"Well," said the Fat Director, "perhaps you can keep them. Not for use, but as a memento, or a…how are they called…?"
When Henry returned, he was once again painted green with red stripes. And this time, he didn't care if the rain spoiled it: he would always get it rubbed down when the day's work was done.
As for Gordon, well, ever since then, buffers have been a touchy subject for him. Especially since Henry still keeps the square buffers to this day, although they sit on his berth on Tidmouth sheds most of the time.
Emily, on the other hand, didn't really care about this. Henry's words had gotten to her, and for the first time, she was worried about her future on this railway.