That evening, Thomas, Percy and Emily were settling into their berths, when they heard both a whistle and a horn.

"Bear!" cried Percy. "Oh, I can't believe it!"

"Thomas, Percy, Emily," he greeted. "Great to see you."

"Welcome back, Bear," said Emily. "We sure have missed you."

"Me, too," said Bear. "Percy, I heard you were a star in the Great Railway Show."

"Aww," blushed the green tank engine. "Well, I was a bit nervous, but…"

"No, you cannot come in!"

"Uh oh…" whispered Emily.

Over in the nearby berths, Gordon was once again having an argument with James.

"And why not?" James argued. "I've lived in these sheds for many years! Unless Sir Topham Hatt says otherwise, I have every right to come in!"

"I overheard Annabelle saying she wanted you on the Peel Godred branch for a while," scoffed Gordon. "Or did you forget she was in charge for a few days?!"

"You put her under distress as well!" retorted James. "So don't tell me anything about forgetting she's in charge!"

Bear's engine growled, cutting through the argument.

"Gordon and James!" he snapped. "I am highly disappointed in the two of you. My first day home, and I hear you two have been at each other's blastpipes because of a decision neither of you should have been involved in making. That was Edward's alone!"

"Can't you both just get over it already?" asked Thomas.

"Are you lot not upset that Edward chose to abandon us here?!" cried Gordon.

"Well… yes," said Emily. "We are a bit sad that Edward's moved, but he's not all that far away, Gordon."

"That's right, Gordon," said Henry. "He did say we'd still see each other all the time. I even saw him at Knapford station this morning. Just because he's moved away from the sheds doesn't mean it's a goodbye forever."

"And I don't think he would be happy to hear that you're still acting like a spoiled child, Gordon," Bear added firmly.

"Spoiled?!" spluttered Gordon in offense.

"Well!" huffed James. "If Annabelle wanted me at the Peel Godred branch, I'd better head to their shed. Even Pamela's company would be better than yours, Gordon. Good night!" He blew off steam and used the turntable.

"Good riddance," Gordon snorted. "Perhaps now, I can sleep tonight in peace."

"I doubt that…" Thomas said under his breath. "We're sorry you had to come home to this, Bear."

"Oh, it's quite alright," Bear comforted. "How long do you think it'll take for Gordon to stop being so petty?"

"I don't know, Bear…" sighed Henry. "I'm glad I'm going to Bridlington two days from now. Maybe that will help clear the air from my smokebox…"

Percy hadn't said anything since Bear had come to the sheds. The little tank engine was deep in thought.

"Maybe James just… needs his space," he said. "The Peel Godred branch is very cut off, so he'll have time to calm down."

"I hope you're right, Percy," said Thomas.

Meanwhile, James was still brooding over his recent arguing with Gordon as he puffed along the main line light engine. On his way to Killdane, he passed through the cow field where he had his accident many years ago.

"I can never forget how I crashed into that field thanks to the trucks," he said to himself. "If it wasn't for Thomas, I'd be stuck in that field forever."

Now, this wasn't true, of course, but sometimes, James had a habit of exaggerating the situation, like his nightmare where he imagined being painted in every color but red. Even so, James thought back to the blue tank engine. "He got his branch line… because I crashed. Because I couldn't control the trucks and had wooden brakes."

Then James thought back to one of his first passenger runs after his accident, when he accidentally broke Dexter's brake pipe and it had to be patched with some newspaper and a leather bootlace. None of the engines would ever let him forget that incident for a long time afterwards.

"Hmph!" he snorted. "Thomas used that as an anecdote when Toby arrived."

The mention of the tram engine's name brought James to another infamous accident of his own, when he crashed into some tar wagons after calling Toby and Henrietta "dirty objects". And the more James thought about his past incidents – helping Toby while pulling the express, getting stung on the nose by a bee, and, of course, crashing into the back of Tidmouth sheds…

"Sometimes, I can't help but ask myself – am I a really useful engine?" The red engine had much to think about…

The following day, Bear was taking the Main Line Local; usually, this was a job shared between Henry, James or one of the Scottish twins. The Hymek pulled into Killdane and met up with Selina and Kyle.

"Bear!" said Kyle. "A little bird told us you'd be back."

"Who?" asked Bear with a chuckle. "Duck?"

"Ha, no," laughed Selina. "Actually, it was Henry when he came by with his goods train. Oh, did you hear about the Great Railway Show? A contestant for every category ended up going from Sodor."

"I know!" grinned Bear. "It was all over the news. Percy beat Ashima's shunting record minutes after she completed her trial; Henry forfeited the competition to allow Frieda to complete her run; and Gordon–"

"Don't mention that big blue sausage's name!" snapped James. The three engines glanced over in surprise.

"He sure did better than you, James," said Kyle. "He saved his brother from Vinnie sabotaging the Great Race."

"It still doesn't give him the right to blame me for Edward moving out," grumbled James.

"James," sighed Bear, "you and Gordon just need to let that go–"

"I need to let it go?!" huffed James. "Oh, that's rich coming from everyone else! What about when they want me to forget about the incident with the bootlaces? Or my accident with the tar wagons? Or when I got stung by a bee?! Whenever everyone else has an incident, it's forgive and forget. But me? Everyone keeps on banging on about it!"

"But James–"

"And if that wasn't enough," James continued, "I come stone dead last in the Best Decorated Engine Parade while Henry and Gordon get their glory despite not winning themselves! Does Trevithick or the world enjoy my misery and suffering?!" Without another word, he stormed off with his trucks.

"Oh my," Selina sighed. "This will not end well."

That night, James fell asleep, ignoring Pamela's constant gripping and Harleen's excited rambles. He began to dream…

Suddenly, he found himself near a field. A very familiar field… with a very familiar wreck.

"This was… where I crashed…" he said to himself. Nervously, he glanced into the field. There were trucks scattered every which way, some of them were broken. He remembered that all too well. But… among the field, wasn't himself.

"E-Edward?!" he exclaimed in shock. "H-how… he did he…"

"Never mind, Edward," soothed the driver. "Faulty brakes can happen to any engine. If only Johnson wasn't tied up elsewhere…"

"Curse those trucks," grunted the fireman. "How dare they take advantage of this…"

"You trucks should be more grateful!" James snapped. "Edward is one of the most experienced engines on the island! He doesn't deserve to be bumped!"

However, James' cries went unheard. What Edward did hear was a whistle. "Thomas," he smiled gratefully.

Of course, James thought, he'd have Judy and Jerome in tow…

And he did. James saw the same events from the day of the crash play out; Thomas shunting the trucks away, leaving the broken ones behind, and Thomas helping Edward out of the crash.

"Oh, Edward…" Thomas sobbed. "Are you alright?"

"Thomas…" Edward whispered. "I'll be fine. I just need to be mended, that's all."

"I hope so…" sighed Thomas. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop you from crashing…"

"Thomas," Edward smiled, "you did well with getting Judy and Jerome and clearing the trucks away. I'd say you've learned as much about trucks as me. I guess you returned my favor."

Thomas finally broke a smile. "I guess I did."

Then, James saw Henry, Gordon, Thomas and the Midis at Tidmouth sheds, and as per what really happened, the engines congratulated Thomas. Then, those fateful words were uttered.

"…and you, Thomas. Due to your unselfishness, bravery and heroism, you have shown yourself worthy of having your own branch line!"

Thomas… still got his branch line… James' breath quickened. Even though I wasn't there…

More events started to flash by in James' mind. Edward took the troublesome trucks over the hill; Gordon and Henry both went on strike; Johnson took over the express for Gordon when he went the wrong way, and it continued in this fashion until the London trips. Now, James expected there to only be eight engines on trip one. But to his shock, there were eleven. Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon and Mavis were still on this trip, the same as ever; Percy now had the number five, which James wasn't too surprised about, but wearing the number six was…

"Johnson?! How…"

"…so, after I took the express when Gordon went the wrong way," Johnson chuckled to some children; Gordon naturally rolled his eyes, "I became the North Western Railway's number six. The other Midis were purchased one by one in the years that followed."

James scanned the shed again. Sure enough, Lauren, Toby, Nicole and Duck bore the numbers seven through ten, in that order. The second trip had the twins, Katie and Oliver as numbers eleven through fourteen. Only Julie's number fifteen, the China Clay twins and the four diesels remained the same.

I guess… Sodor would be better if I wasn't here… James thought sadly.

Suddenly, he awoke from his dream, and found himself back at Peel Godred sheds. Then he remembered something he'd just managed to hear as he'd left Tidmouth last night…

"I'm going to Bridlington two days from now."

"Bridlington…" he said with a smirk. "Hmm…"

Author's Comments

Here's the second chapter of Journey Beyond Sodor, and it's a bit shorter than the previous. In fact, in the document it was written on, it's only five and a bit pages long! Not to worry, though; most of the later chapters are much longer than this. This serves the purpose of setting up the rest of the story after the initial shock of James' accident with the express coaches, as well as making James question his purpose on Sodor and how he feels overshadowed compared to the rest of his friends (constantly being reminded of previous incidents doesn't help either). One of Rachel's initial ideas was a flashback to The Adventure Begins, but Edward takes James' place, to further drive the idea to James that he thinks Sodor is better off without him.

Next time, it's off to the mainland for Experimental Central!