NEITHER Alan nor Gordon got very much sleep that night. Their thoughts and feelings for each other kept them awake. Both were angry at each other, and also depressed knowing full well how they'd let Jeff and the rest of their family down. Neither wanted to go out the next day, especially with each other. Neither of them wanted to go on a mission together even if it was just a training one. Alan in particular was trying to think up any excuse he could to not leave the comfort and seclusion of his bedroom.

When morning came, Gordon found himself getting up because he couldn't stay in bed any longer. He found Scott in the kitchen with his bandaged nose. "Hey, bro. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by Thunderbird 1 in mid-air," Scott replied.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For yesterday," said Gordon. "I didn't mean for this to happen, Scott."

"You're not the one who punched me," answered Scott. "So forget it."

"I can't though," Gordon said. "Alan and I haven't fought in years. I…I shouldn't have let this happen. It was my fault."

Grandma had been in the kitchen making breakfast. She heard Gordon's words and her anger towards him dropped a little. "Does that mean to say you regret what happened yesterday, Gordon?" she asked.

"Yes, Grandma," Gordon replied. "Very much."

"Enough to apologise to Alan?"

Gordon was silent for a moment. "If he lets me…yes," he said.

Scott sipped his coffee. "Given how he's been lately, I feel it'll take something major for him to do that, Gordon," he said. "Hopefully your survival exercise will help."

"Yeah, about that," said Gordon. "I don't suppose you know where we're going, do you?"

Scott shook his head. "Not a clue," he replied. "Then again, if you knew, you'd probably know how to survive it."

"True…" Gordon thought.

Jeff and Virgil then appeared. "Ah, Gordon," said Jeff. "Good. You ready?"

Gordon picked up a bagel. "Yeah, I'm ready, Dad," he said. "Ready to put things right."

Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Having regrets?"

Gordon nodded.

"Good," said Jeff. "That's a good start, son. Now, where's Alan?"

"Haven't seen him," said Gordon.

"I bet he's still in bed," said Virgil. "You know what he's like."

"Or he's gonna feign illness so he doesn't have to go," added Scott.

Jeff scowled. "We'll soon see about that," he said.

"No need, Jeff," said Grandma as she dried her hands. "I'll go get him."

Grandma headed up to Alan's room and knocked on the door. "Alan? You up?"

A loud groaning sound came from inside the room. Grandma opened the door and saw a large shape hiding under the duvet.

"Alan, get up, now!"

"I'm ill, Grandma," moaned Alan from under the duvet. "Leave me alone."

Grandma grabbed the duvet and pulled it off. "Nice try, but it's not gonna work on me."

"But it's my stomach," Alan complained. "I feel really sick."

"Are you really?" said Grandma unsympathetically. "Serves you right if you are."

Alan sat up suddenly. "What's that supposed to…mean?" he trailed off, suddenly realising he'd stopped sounding ill.

"I thought as much," scolded Grandma, folding her arms. "You're not ill at all, Alan. you just don't want to go out with Virgil and Gordon today."

"Damn right I don't!" snapped Alan. "I mean, Virgil, yes. But I'm not going if Gordon is! No way!"

"This is not up for debate!"

Alan turned to look at the doorway and saw a rather stern Jeff standing there.

"You're both going on this mission together, whether you like it or not, boy! Now get up, get dressed and get the hell down to the lounge. Now!" He then left.

Alan stared after him, and then at Grandma. "I'm not going!" he protested.

Grandma threw him his clothes. "You don't have a choice," she said. "Now hurry up! You got five minutes and no more!" She then walked out, leaving Alan to let out a cry of frustration.

After getting a final briefing from Jeff which resulted in a stern warning to the two brothers to not fight again, they began the suiting up in readiness for launching in Thunderbird 2. After going through the changing rooms, the two brothers soon found themselves inside the elevator taking them up into Thunderbird 2.

It was safe to say that the tension in the elevator was very uncomfortable. Alan tried to stand as far as he could from Gordon and refused to even look at him. Gordon looked at his brother's back. He could feel the guilt from his remark the previous day flooding back through him. He took a deep breath and spoke up. "Say, Alan, I-"

"DON'T talk to me!" came the blunt reply.

Gordon sighed. Was worth a try, he thought to himself.

Once they were inside the cockpit of Thunderbird 2 they took their positions in the seats next to and behind Virgil who had arrived ahead of them. The rock concealing the hangar entrance opened and the great green ship began to taxi out into the early morning Sun. The palm trees folded back to allow it to pass as it made its way to the launch ramp. Once the ramp had lifted it up, the wings had folded out and the blast shield lifted into place, they were ready to go.

5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

Thunderbird 2's engines broke the silence of the morning as it soared up off the ramp and climbed away from Tracy Island into the sky.

"Thunderbird 2 is GO!" announced Virgil.

Scott and Jeff watched from inside the lounge as Thunderbird 2 disappeared from view.

"In all seriousness, Dad, I'm not entirely sure this is going to work."

"In what way, son?"

"Well…despite Gordon's regret, the animosity is still there," said Scott. "Especially with Alan. I'm just not sure leaving them out there by themselves is a good idea. I saw the look in Alan's eyes. He would have murdered Gordon if we hadn't tried to stop him."

"Have you any idea how sick you're making me feel right now, Scott?" Jeff asked sternly. "The fact you're suggesting my youngest son was looking to kill my second eldest?!"

"Y-Yes…" replied Scott uneasily. "I'm sorry, Dad…but that's what it looked like to us."

Jeff grimaced. "I understand your concerns, Scott," he said. "But let me reassure you. They won't be alone out there."

"Yeah, I suppose," said Scott. "Virgil is the peacemaker in the family after all. Hopefully he can-"

"I never said Virgil," Jeff interrupted and then headed back to his desk, leaving Scott to wonder what he had meant.

Thunderbird 2 went high above the cloud layers, much higher than it usually flew. As Gordon looked out of the cockpit windows, he couldn't see the ground at all.

"Where exactly are we going, Virgil?" Gordon asked.

"That is for me to know and you two to find out," Virgil answered.

Alan remained silent, arms folded and looking at the instrument panel beside him.

Virgil could feel the tension between them and it made him uncomfortable. "I hope you two can fix this," he said. "I don't like it when you're both like this."

Alan scoffed loudly. "Yeah, right. Dream on, Virgil."

Virgil scowled at him. "I don't like your tone either, Alan."

"Oh, what, you're taking Gordon's side in this?!" Alan suddenly snapped.

"I'm not taking anyone's side!" Virgil said hastily.

"Yeah, well it sounds like you are!" fumed Alan.

"Well, I'm NOT!" Virgil thundered. "You were both wrong to do what you did. There's no point in either of you denying that either."

"I'm not denying it," Gordon said. "I was out of line."

Alan scoffed again. "Damn right you were!"

"And you're not?" Virgil asked. "Do you not regret your actions yesterday, Alan?"

"No, I don't!" Alan said bluntly. "I won't have anyone speak ill about the woman I loved."

"Even though Sophie haunted your sleep for so long afterwards?" Virgil went on. "You were so glad when you stood up to her spectre and abolished her from your mind."

Alan didn't have a response for that. He therefore remained silent as Virgil and Gordon exchanged a look.

After a lengthy period of flying, Thunderbird 2 started to descend downwards through the cloud levels until they could see several snow-covered hills and mountains below them. Alan and Gordon couldn't make out where it was.

"Where the hell are we meant to be?" asked Alan.

"I'm sure you'll both figure it out," replied Virgil. "Go get your gear ready. I'll look for a place to land."

"F-A-B," said Gordon as he left his seat.

"Ugh, fine," grumbled Alan as he did the same.

Finding a landing spot was tricky. Virgil was concerned that Thunderbird 2's VTOL engines might disturb the snow and cause an avalanche. However he eventually found somewhere flat enough to bring his craft down into land. He then lowered the lift from the cockpit taking Gordon and a reluctant Alan with it. As they walked out into the snow, both were startled when Thunderbird 2's engines roared as it lifted off again.

"Hey, Virgil, where are you going?!" Alan exclaimed.

"Have fun, guys," Virgil answered over the radio. "Hope you survive the experience."

And before either Alan or Gordon could say another word, Thunderbird 2 had turned around, fired its main boosters and roared away into the sky leaving them alone in a vast snow-covered landscape.

"Woah…" remarked Gordon. "I thought he was joining us."

Alan threw his equipment down in anger. "Great! Just GREAT!" he roared. "NOT ONLY AM I BEING PUNISHED WITH A POINTLESS SURVIVAL MISSION, BUT I HAVE TO DO IT WITH YOU?!" he finished, pointing an accusing finger at Gordon.

"Ugh, give it a rest, will you?" Gordon groaned.

"NO, I'M NOT DONE!" Alan continued shouting. "I'M-"

SPLAT!

"WHAT THE?!"

Alan and Gordon looked around after Alan had recovered from the snowball that had hit him in the back of the helmet. Both looked around them in confusion.

"Who was that?" Gordon called out. "Who's there?"

Nobody answered. All of a sudden, the two brothers began to feel uneasy. They were sensing that they were not alone.

"Just so you know, Alan, I didn't throw that," Gordon said.

"Well, I know that, idiot!" Alan snapped. "You're stood there and it came from over-"

SPLAT! Another snowball hit him in the helmet.

"HEY! STOP THAT!" he shrieked. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

SPLAT! Another one came. This time it hit Gordon in the visor of his helmet. He stumbled and fell backwards over his equipment. "WAAARGH!" he exclaimed as he landed on the snow.

Now they began to feel scared. Someone else was there, and was targeting them.

Alan suddenly felt an invisible pair of hands grab him from behind, pick him up and start to twirl him around. "WOAH! WOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT'S HAPPENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING?!"

"Hang on, Alan, I'll save you!" Gordon said as he scrambled to his feet. He tried to hurry over to help his brother only for whoever was holding onto Alan let go and he went flying across into a pile of snow on the hillside head-first. Then Gordon felt himself bump into something at the lower legs and he tripped up, landing on his front and began sliding uncontrollably down the hillside. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP!" he wailed.

Alan had now managed to pull himself out of the snow and looked around. He saw Gordon sliding down the hill. He seemed to forget the hatred he'd got of him and hurried forwards to try and help him. "HANG ON, GORDON, I-WHAAAAAA-" He was cut off by the same invisible force that had grabbed him before. He felt a kick under his legs causing him to fall on his bottom and then he too found himself sliding down the hill as well.

Both brothers continued to wail as they slid down several feet before eventually coming to rest at the bottom with Gordon ploughing head-first into a pile of snow whilst Alan ended up coming to an abrupt stop when he bumped into a snowman. The impact caused the snowman to collapse and buried him up to his neck in it.

"Ugh…great!" Alan groaned. He tried to lift himself out but found he was stuck fast. He then saw Gordon trying to pull himself out of the drift he was stuck in. "Hey, Gordon, get me out of here."

"Yeah, hang on!" Gordon said as he heaved himself out. "Ugh, that's better." Then he saw Alan and had to try not to laugh.

"You so much as snicker, I will kill you," said Alan dangerously.

Gordon swallowed any amusement he had had and stumbled over to dig his brother out. Once he'd cleared enough, he held his hand out for Alan to take but Alan swiped it away.

"Don't touch me!" Alan snapped.

"Oh, fine then!" fumed Gordon. "I dig you out and that's the thanks I get?"

"Why would I thank you?" asked Alan. "I told you to dig me out and you did. End of."

Gordon was about to retort when a strange sound caught both their attention. They looked back up the hill and were surprised to see two objects sliding down towards them. It turned out to be their equipment kit bags that they'd left up where Thunderbird 2 had dropped them off. The bags reached the bottom of the hill and came to a stop near to where they were standing. Both Alan and Gordon stared at each other in confusion. Then as Gordon looked up the hill again he let out a gasp of alarm.

"What is it?" Alan asked.

"L-L-Look!" said Gordon, pointing.

Alan looked and he froze as well. There was a set of footprints appearing out of nowhere from within the snow. One by one they appeared as they made their way down towards them.

Feeling fearful, Gordon went to grab his stun-gun. Then he gasped in horror. "My stunner!" he cried. "Where's my stun-gun?!"

"Don't worry, I'll use mine!" said Alan as he reached for his. "Wait, where's mine?!" His was gone as well.

The footprints were getting closer and both of them began to get really scared.

"Okay…whoever you are!" Gordon said fearfully. "P-P-Please don't h-hurt us!"

Then they heard another noise, one they wouldn't have expected. It was the sound of laughter. It was coming from where the footprints were originating from. They were both initially confused until with a flicker of blue energy, a familiar figure appeared revealing the creator of the footprints.

"KAYO?!"

"Oh, man," laughed Kayo. "That was way too much fun."

Alan and Gordon stared at each other again and then at Kayo. "Kayo, what the hell are you doing here?" Alan demanded.

"Isn't it obvious, Sherlock?" teased Kayo. "I'm your survival trainer. And I'd say you weren't at all prepared for that first test, were you?"

The embarrassed looks on the brothers' faces told her that they weren't.

As they headed down the hill into the woodland, Kayo soon found herself being bombarded by questions.

"Did Dad put you up to this?" Alan asked.

"Nope. This was my idea," Kayo replied.

"Yours?" said Gordon. "Guessing he told you what happened?"

"I saw it," said Kayo.

"You did?" said Alan. "How? I didn't see you."

"Neither did I?" agreed Gordon.

Kayo sighed and rolled her eyes before shaking her head with a smirk. "You didn't see me just now either, did you?" she said.

They thought for a moment. "Wait, you were invisible?!" said Gordon,

"Of course," said Kayo. "Who do you think it was who broke up the fight?"

"How?" they asked together.

"Guessing neither of you remember how it ended?"

They tried to think. They could both remember the fight, but then everything had become groggy.

"Gas," said Gordon. "I had a feeling I could smell gas?"

"Bingo," said Kayo. "I used my knockout gas to put you both to sleep before you caused serious harm to one another."

Alan suddenly became angry. "You had no right to stop us, Kayo!" he fumed. "I-"

"Shhh!" Kayo said, stopping suddenly. "Someone's there!"

They listened. They could hear the sounds of voices coming from behind some snow-covered bushes. It sounded like two young girls talking.

"Ooooh, it's so cold out here."

"I hope the Abominable Snow Monster doesn't get us."

The trio exchanged confused looks.

"Are those…kids?" Alan whispered.

"I'm sure I recognise those voices," Gordon added. He lifted his head up and peered over the top with Kayo and Alan doing the same. They could see two girls, both dressed up in thick woolly scarves and hats. One had blonde hair with a pink coat. The other was African-American with black hair and a yellow coat.

"Any sign of it?" the blonde-haired said.

"No," said the other. "But I do think we should-"

"CUUUUUUUUUUUT!"

The brothers, Kayo and the two girls looked round to see a ginger-haired boy with blue glasses come sprinting out from the trees waving his arms in frustration.

"What is it, Norman?" asked the black-haired girl.

"We have uninvited guests!" grumbled the boy, pointing at the bush.

It didn't take more than two seconds for Kayo and the brothers to realise he was referring to them. Kayo stood up and walked around the side of the bush to go up to them. "What are you three doing out here?" she asked. "Where are your parents?"

"My Mum's at home, back in the village," said the boy.

"So are my parents," said the black-haired girl.

"And mine plus my brother," said the blonde one. "Although my Grandpa is just on the other side of the woods with his train."

"Wait a moment!" Gordon realised as he came around with Alan following. "I thought you three looked familiar. Weren't you all on the Bus I rescued the other year?"

The kids all gasped as they recognised him too. "Oh, my Gosh!" gasped the blonde girl. "International Rescue!"

"Wow!" said the boy, suddenly no longer being cross. "The Thunderbirds have come to watch me make my movie!"

"Movie?" said Alan. "What movie?"

"The Curse of the Abominable Snow Monster!" said the boy. "By Norman Price! That's me by the way. And starring Sarah Jones and Mandy Flood!"

"This is no place for three young children to wander around unsupervised," said Kayo. "You need to have a guardian of some sort with you at all times."

"Awh, come on, we do this all the time," said Norman.

"We're always careful," added Mandy.

"Kayo, this area seems safe enough," said Gordon. "And if we're gonna be nearby, we can come and help them if they do get into difficulty."

Alan grimaced. He didn't even want to be there, let alone having children on his mind. He remained silent.

Kayo gave a sigh. "Very well," she said. "But take one of these, kids." She took out a small yellow device and gave it to Sarah. "It's a transceiver," she said. "It's designed to beep louder when within close proximity to another. We all have our own. If you do get into trouble, we'll use it to come and find you. Just make sure you stay within this wooded area, okay?"

The children agreed and promised. At least, Sarah and Mandy did.

"Wait a second," Gordon said to Kayo and Alan as they set off again. "I've just realised where we are."

"Go on," said Kayo, even though she already knew the answer."

"Wales!" said Gordon triumphantly.

Alan stopped dead in his tracks and watched them both walk on ahead in bewilderment. "Wales?" he said in disbelief. "Seriously?! This ain't hostile in the slightest!"

As Kayo and the brothers left to head for a nearby hill, Norman spoke to the girls. "Right, we're going to get it right this time," he said. "Take Twenty-Four."

A short while later, Kayo and the brothers were out of the woods and on a small hill close by. "Right then," she said. "You've both been skiing before, haven't you?"

"No," said Alan.

"Yes," said Gordon. "But…" His face fell. "Not since before Mom died."

Kayo felt her stomach churn. It had slipped her mind that the boys' mother had been lost in an avalanche along with their Grandpa. "Right…of course," she said. "Sorry."

"We can still do it though," said Gordon.

"What do we even need to ski for?" asked Alan. "I thought we were being punished…for HIS mistake!" he added, pointing at Gordon.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, knock it off!" growled Gordon.

"ENOUGH!" Kayo shouted and her voice seemed to echo around the valley. "This isn't a treat, Alan, no. It's to test how you both perform in performing a rescue in a situation where none of our machines could be used."

"Why? We have flying machines and the Pods?" said Alan. "They're all we need."

"Not if there's a risk of an avalanche," said Kayo. "Surely you remember the one you, Virgil and Scott had to contend with when rescuing Brandon Berrenger that time?"

Alan winced. Whilst he and Brandon had made peace with each other, the memories of that day still occasionally came back to him.

"If there's a lot of snow and its unstable," Kayo continued. "The sound of aircraft engines or the vibrations could cause it to shift, and then we'd be the ones responsible for causing a disaster. So we're going to perform some skiing tests to see how you perform, and then a few other tests to see how you get on. We'll start with an avalanche search exercise. Look that way until I say otherwise."

Gordon and Alan turned their backs to Kayo and looked up towards the mountain where Thunderbird 2 had brought them to. Meanwhile Kayo snuck away and carried out her part of the exercise preparation.

"Can we look yet?" Alan asked, getting impatient.

"Not yet, Alan."

Alan groaned.

"Come on, Alan, you normally love these sorts of games," said Gordon.

"I'd be more enthusiastic if you weren't here," Alan retorted rudely.

Before Gordon could snap back at him, Kayo called out. "READY!"

They turned around, and Kayo instantly noticed the look of hurt on Gordon's face. She gave Alan a look but he didn't react to it. "I've buried my backpack with the transceiver somewhere down there, under the snow," she said. "Your job is to zig-zag down until you find it."

Gordon set off first, taking a few steps in one direction before changing to another. Alan did the same a few feet across to the other side, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

"How will we know when we're close?" asked Gordon.

"Your own transceiver will beep faster," replied Kayo.

Less than a few seconds later, Gordon heard his start to beep faster. "I think I'm close!" he said. Then he noticed a pile of snow that looked like it had been freshly touched. "I got it!" he said triumphantly, running over to it.

"You might have," said Kayo as she walked down towards him. "Use your shovel to dig it out."

So Gordon took out the folding shovel from his toolbelt and began digging away at the snow. Sure enough, he found Kayo's backpack and lifted it out. "Ta-da!"

Kayo grinned. "Well done, Gordon. That was quick."

Alan wasn't impressed however. "Hmph. Dumb luck," he muttered darkly to himself.

Sarah and Mandy were walking through the woods again, pretending to be scared. "I hope the monster won't find us here," said Sarah.

A bush nearby suddenly shifted.

"What was that?" asked Mandy. "I'm scared!"

"It is I! The Abominable Snow Monster!" said a spooky voice as the bush fell away to reveal an odd-looking white creature staring back at them.

The two girls looked at the monster. Then they looked at each other. And then they burst out laughing.

"CUT!" shrieked Norman as he appeared from behind the creature. "Now what's so funny?"

"That's not scary, Norman," said Sarah.

"It looks like a snowman with your Mum's dressing gown on," giggled Mandy.

"It is a snowman wearing my Mum's dressing gown," said Norman.

The girls just giggled and walked away, leaving a very frustrated Norman behind. "Ugh, this is hopeless," he grumbled to himself. "I need to find a way to scare them."

Having completed the search test, Kayo had gotten Gordon and Alan to put their skis on. "Okay, boys," she said. "We'll try a gentle slope to begin with before going onto a bigger one. Observe."

Alan and Gordon watched as Kayo gently headed down the slope.

"Keep yourself upright and steady," she said. "And then to stop, point your toes towards each other to make a snowplough, like this!" She turned the front ends of the skis towards each other. She then turned slowly around and came to a stop. "There," she said. "As graceful as a falling snowflake. Your turn."

Gordon headed off first. He went gently down the slope and as he reached where Kayo was, he made the snowplough and came to a gentle stop around behind her. "Woo! How was that?" he asked.

"Perfect," said Kayo. "Your turn, Alan!"

Alan looked uncomfortable as he tried to move forwards. He then found himself picking up speed. Too much speed and soon he was going too fast. "Woah…WOAH!" he exclaimed.

"STOP, ALAN!" shouted Kayo.

"POINT YOUR TOES TOGETHER!" yelled Gordon.

Too late. Alan failed to carry out those instructions and with a combined yelp and a crash, he skied straight into Kayo who in turn bumped into Gordon.

"WOOOOOOOAAAARRRRGH!" they all cried out before landing in a crumpled heap on the ground. "OOF!"

They all lay where they were, slightly entangled with each other in the aftermath.

"Sorry, Kayo," Alan apologised. "That wasn't so graceful, was it?"

"No, Alan…it wasn't," Kayo replied.

Norman was now standing at the edge of the woodland looking down the steep hill into the valley. "Hmm," he said. "A toboggan ride down that will really make my actors feel afraid. ACTORS! TO ACTION!"

Sarah and Mandy appeared and looked at the yellow and black hazard tape that sealed the hill off from the trees. "Norman, why are we here?" asked Mandy.

"We're going tobogganing down the hill like you're being chased by the Snow Monster," said Norman.

"But we can't go down there," said Sarah. "It's sealed off."

"So?" said Norman.

"It's sealed off because it's dangerous, Norman!" said Mandy.

"Pfffft!" scoffed Norman. "What danger? Look at it! Do you see any danger?"

"We're not going past this boundary, Norman!" said Sarah firmly.

It was unfortunate for the two girls that were already sitting on their pink toboggan and Norman acted before they had a chance to. "Action!" he said and gave them a shove.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they cried as they picked up speed down the slope.

Norman then jumped on his blue toboggan and began to chase after them, filming with his small video camera as they went.

"NORMAN PRICE! THAT WAS VERY DANGEROUS!" Mandy said angrily.

"Oh, be quiet and look scared!" retorted Norman.

They then went over a rough patch of snow. Both of them bounced over it. The girls were too afraid and Norman too preoccupied with his camera to notice the snow start to shift. They didn't hear or feel a rumble either.

Sarah and Mandy reached the bottom first, coming to a stop a few yards from a small wooden hut. They hopped off and looked up the slope at Norman. They were both getting ready to give him a piece of their mind but it was something else that caught their attention.

"Oh n-n-n-n-no!" gasped Sarah, her eyes widening with fright.

"Wow, that's great!" said Norman with delight. "You both finally look really scared!"

"NORMAN, BEHIND YOU!" shouted Mandy, pointing.

"Eh?" said Norman as he looked round - straight at the avalanche that was now chasing after him.