Starr: What's this about a race?
Britt: Thomas here meets a certain bus.
Starr: I have a feeling this is gonna be iconic.
…
Thomas sat at the edge of Knapford, as he was at a junction waiting for the signal. A bus arrived, as the identical bus was in the shed resting.
"Hello." said Thomas contently. "Who are you?"
"I'm Bertie." said the bus, examining Thomas for a moment. "Who are you?"
"I am Thomas. I run this branchline." replied Thomas.
"Huh, so you're Thomas. I remember you getting stuck in some snow and crying, and I took your passengers. I see that orange tractor had to pull you out." said Bertie.
Thomas was unsurprisingly angry, as he didn't like remembering his own accidents.
"Anyways, I've come to help with your passengers today." chuckled Bertie.
The other bus, who we'll call Karl, slowly woke up and drove off.
"Help me?!" asked Thomas. "Why would I need help?"
"Well, I see Annie and/or Clarabel can't carry so many passengers at once." remarked Bertie.
"Why, I can go faster than you in a heartbeat!" raged Thomas.
"No you can't." replied Bertie smugly.
"Yes I can!" puffed Thomas.
"I'll race you!" said Bertie. He wanted to beat what was currently the most dominant species on the Island in a race.
Their respective drivers agreed to the race going ahead.
The stationmaster then said. "Are you ready? ..GO!"
And Thomas and Bertie both started, though Thomas couldn't go fast at first as Bertie drew ahead in front quite easily.
"Why don't you go fast for once?" called Annie and Clarabel.
"Oh wait and see, you two." said Thomas as he started to pick up speed while heading under Intro Bridge.
"But he's likely a long way ahead!" wailed Annie, now wanting to live a little. But Thomas remembered a certain crossing.
At debatably the same crossing where Thomas had previously left his train behind, Bertie fumed at the gates while
"FOILED AGAIN!" proclaimed Bertie.
"See you at the end, you loser!" laughed Thomas as they sailed through happily. "Bye bye, red!" giggled Clarabel.
Just after that, the road left the rails, so they couldn't see Bertie.
Bertie was going as fast as he could, but he narrowly avoided crashing into Karl because of it.
Meanwhile, Thomas had to stop at Dryaw for a moment to let off passengers.
"PEEP PEEP! Quickly please!" whistled Thomas.
And off they went again. "Come along, come along!" sang Thomas.
"We're coming along, we're coming along!' chanted Annie and Clarabel.
Thomas then puffed down a lesser known track named Lower Arlsbourgh to use as a shortcut, and surprised a brown tram engine as he flew through without stopping.
"Hurry hurry hurry!" panted Thomas as his face turned red. He looked ahead and spotted Bertie on a bridge, tooting triumphantly.
"Better hurry, you blue loser!" laughed Bertie.
"Oh dearie me, oh dearie me!" groaned Thomas as he soon pulled along the windmill.
"We'll beat Bertie yet!" echoed Annie.
"We'll do it yet!" panted Thomas. "Oh, big bother! There's another station!"
They soon pulled into Elsbridge, and Thomas wheezed in agony, having never gone that fast before, and his face was a certain little green engine's tired face again while the passengers were let off.
Bertie was conveniently lounging on a side of bank grass and saw everything.
"Goodbye, Thomas. You must be tired at this point. I can't stop, as we buses have to work, you know." said Bertie as he smugly drove off.
"You… little red loser.. Oh dear God…" panted Thomas, as he was out of breath. "We've lost now."
"This might cheer you up, bud." said his driver.
"BOOZE!" cried Thomas in joy. He soon felt much better after his drink of both booze and water. The signal dropped and he was off.
"HURRAH WE'RE OFF!" he called.
As they crossed the bridge, they heard an impatient HONK HONK!, and Clarabel spotted Bertie waiting at a traffic light. Don't mind Annie facing the wrong way for a moment.
Bertie soon started back up with a roar as the light turned green and he chased after Thomas.
"Whoa!" cried Terrence as he saw Thomas and Bertie fly past.
Thomas had managed to reach his full speed. Bertie tried hard, but Thomas was just too fast for him as he headed into the newly named Hackenbeck Tunnel, while Bertie was far behind.
"We've done it now!" panted Thomas.
"We've done it hooray! We've done it hooray!" cheered Annie and Clarabel as they all whooshed into the last station.
Bertie soon pulled up while everyone celebrated Thomas' victory. But they gave Bertie a big welcome so that he wasn't left out.
"Well done, Thomas." said Bertie. "I see you're faster than I originally thought."
"Oh really?" said Thomas.
"Yeah. To beat you over that last hill, I might as well grow wings and be like an airplane." said Bertie.
…
The two friends now keep each other busy, and they often talk about their race, but Bertie's passengers unsurprisingly don't like being bounced around like peas in a frying pan. STH also warned Thomas not to race at dangerous speeds, but between you and me, the two would like to have another race someday.