Britt: Alright, we get this and the finale down. Then we can take a year long break.

Ringo: Bravo!

…

One day, Thomas was sitting at a junction staring off into space when Gordon came in, pulling some random goods train.

Thomas glanced over at Gordon, and grinned, as an idea went off in his head, or funnel.

Gordon, meanwhile, had been demoted to goods trains and spent the next few days or so completely silent. The other engines were somewhat glad at first, but became concerned around the five day mark. Despite their squabbling, at the end of the day, they were all somewhat friends, even if they didn't want to admit it.

Thomas took a moment to sniff the air, only to smell something funny.

"Phewwelll!" he remarked. "What a funny smell!"

Gordon looked away.

"Can you smell a certain smell?"

"I can't smell a smell." said a concerned Annie.

"Weird that you can't." replied Thomas. "But it's a musty kind of smell."

"Nobody noticed it until you did." grunted Gordon bluntly, hoping to get out of the way. "It must be coming off of you."

"Well, girls, do either of you know what I think it is?" asked Thomas.

"No?" replied Clarabel.

"It's ditchwater!" said Thomas.

While Gordon muttered something about where Thomas could shove the ditchwater, Thomas himself had already left with the scandalized, surprised coaches following him

Annie and Clarabel could hardly believe their nonexistent ears.

"Buhjesus he's dreadfuy rude." moaned Clarabel.

Meanwhile Thomas had puffed under the title screen bridge.

"You must not be so rude!" wailed Annie. "Can't you see you make us feel ashamed?"

"Oh please, ladies, Gordon's been teasing me and the other engines for as long as I can remember, he should know how it feels by now." replied Thomas.

…

As they all arrived at Knapford yards, Thomas backed down, dropped off his coaches, and left.

"Oh that was funny!" chortled Thomas, he had laughed hard enough that he briefly had a lazy eye. "Enjoy your drinks and see you later!"

Thomas ran off while Eagle came by with a goods train. He (Thomas) headed towards a mine to shunt some trucks as STH had already tasked him with doing.

The mine itself was abandoned for a long while, as the miners that had dug for lead and other minerals left a lot of tunnels underground to the point where you'd think they hired some moles to help them with digging, and they actually did just that. The roofs were luckily strong enough to handle the weight of trucks, but not engines. They had used Edward and Eagle to test out the theory, and as a result Eagle had to help Edward from falling in a mine. Since they didn't feel like filling up the tunnels, only little engines like Thomas, Percy, or Toby could go there without any problems.

A large notice sign was placed to warn them that read 'DANGER- ENGINES MUST NOT PASS THIS BOARD.'. The workmen had thought this was better than using dynamite.

As Thomas puffed in, he glared at the board, as it had once killed a gray tank engine that was named Reginald. "Stupid old board." scoffed Thomas.

While the driver and fireman argued about who should turn the points, Thomas looked around. He had often tried to defy the board and pass it, but had never succeeded. This morning, he had a plan.

"Alright I'll do it!" said the fireman as he stormed over to the points.

"Now to get on with this plan!" Though Thomas happily. As he fiercely bumped the trucks, the driver got jerked off the footplate.

"Oh my head.." groaned the driver. He soon turned his attention to Thomas, who was following the trucks.

"Aye up!" he cried. "Come back!" he shouted.

Thomas grinned for a moment, only to feel the ground feeling a bit funny. The ground soon gave way beneath him, and he slammed down face first into the ground.

"Fire and smoke!" coughed Thomas. "I'M SUNK!" And he was. Though he wasn't playing battleships with 87546.

As Thomas somehow tried to reverse, with no success, the driver walked over to him. "So Thomas." he said with a dangerously calm voice. "How exactly did this plan of yours work?"

There was a short silence.

"I… may not have thought this through." answered Thomas.

"Uh huh." The driver walked away and immediately vented his anger out on a truck.

"Oh dear!" groaned Thomas dreadfully as he hoped he could get out before someone called STH. "I am a silly engine!"

"And a rather naughty one too!" said a voice.

"Oh no." thought Thomas.

The voice belonged to STH. "I saw you!"

"Please get me out! I won't do it again!" pleaded Thomas as he shed a tear or two.

"I doubt that, and I'm not so sure. We can't lift you out with a crane, as we don't yet have cranes that are smarter than you and Percy put together. And also the ground's not firm enough." frowned Hatt. "Hmmmm. Maybe someone like Gordon could pull you out."

Thomas groaned. "Yes, sir." he forced himself to say, except he would've liked any other engine that wasn't named Gordon to pull him out.

…

"Down a mine is he?!" laughed Gordon, feeling like himself again. "What a big joke!" he said as he sped through the title screen bridge with ease.

"Boop boop, little Thomas!" said Gordon as he pulled in. "We'll have you out of there in a few puffs!"

Thomas wanted to bury his head in the sandy earth.

Meanwhile, Gordon's winch was lowered and attached to Thomas. And the strong cables were soon fastened between them.

"Are ya ready?" said STH. The cable tightened.

"Heave!"

Gordon backed up and began pulling.

"HUUUUEEEGHH!" strained Gordon.

It was harder than they thought, primarily due to none of them knowing how much a tank engine like Thomas would weigh. But at last, Thomas was free.

While the others removed the winch and closed the mine, likely forever, Thomas coughed a bit.

"Sorry I was rude to you, big guy." said Thomas.

"It's all right, little Thomas." replied Gordon. "You got me to laugh." He sighed. "You know, I'm in disgrace."

"Yeah, I know how you feel right now." sighed Thomas.

"Well, for all our bickering, we should try and work together." said Gordon.

"We already sort of do that, but, you don't mean." gasped Thomas.

"Yep, shall we form an alliance, you help me and I help you?" replied Gordon.

"Well, right you are." agreed Thomas.

"That's settled then, now let's head home… little buddy." said Gordon.

The two allies puffed buffer to buffer home.

"Hang on, I think they left us behind!" said STH.