PERCY'S DRAGON

Based upon "Thomas and the Dragon"

It wasn't long before Hong-Mei was back to work again, but she still wasn't happy.

"It's not fair," she grumbled. "First, that silly green caterpillar with red stripes beats me in a race. And then, after I get into an accident, he gets off scot-free and is rewarded by being given one of my jobs!"

"You brought this upon yourself, Hong-Mei," Yong Bao said firmly. "Percy has been very helpful for the few days he's been here so far. As a guest to our railway, we must show him the greatest consideration and respect."

"But I deserve to be considered and respected more than he does!" protested Hong-Mei. "I won the shunting competition at the Great Railway Show!"

"So did Percy, based upon what Yong Bao says," a nearby diesel shunter in green smirked. "And yet, you still didn't beat the world record!"

"Oh, stick it up your fans, Quan Song!" Hong-Mei snapped as the diesel rolled away laughing.

"She's not going to go far if she keeps up with that attitude," Yong Bao muttered to himself.

Percy, meanwhile, was fitting in well on the China Railway. The passengers were happy to see him, the coaches were polite, and even the trucks were respectful towards him. Among those trucks was a magenta vent van called Lei.

"You're a much better engine to work with than Da Li and Xiao Hu," said Lei. "They're often so rude to other engines. Just ask Yong Bao how rude they were to him before he got his red paint."

Before Percy could say anything, a large dark purple-red tender engine with ten driving wheels puffed into the yard. He must have been the largest engine that Percy had ever seen; even bigger than Hiro and Murdoch.

"Out of my way, little caterpillar!" the big engine scoffed when he saw Percy. But the little green engine didn't feel threatened by that insult. Instead, he just calmly waited until the big engine came beside him and…

WHEEEEESH!

The big engine jumped in surprise as Percy wheeshed him so loudly, and ran away, much to the amusement of the trucks.

"Where did you learn that, Percy?" Lei giggled.

"I picked it up in the workshops back in England," explained Percy. "It was the best way engines like me could be heard among the others." He went on to tell Lei and the other trucks about using that trick on Gordon during his first day on Sodor. "Needless to say, I know how to handle unruly engines when the need arises."

As Percy was arranging his trucks, he noticed many people placing lanterns around the station.

"Are there going to be problems with the electrics?" Percy asked as Yong Bao pulled in.

"Oh no, Percy," the red engine chuckled. "The people are setting up for the New Year's celebration."

"I thought it was on the first of January?" Percy was confused by that answer.

"Normally that's the case," Yong Bao explained. "But in China, we celebrate the Chinese New Year, which comes later in the month, and sometimes, it takes place in February."

"How else is Chinese New Year celebrated?" asked Percy, curiously.

"Many people give gifts, eat meals with families, and shoot off fireworks," explained Yong Bao. "But do you know what my favorite part of the celebration is?"

"What is it?"

"It's the dragon!"

Percy nearly jumped when he heard this. "A dragon?!" he gulped.

"That's right," smiled Yong Bao. "The dragon and the lion. They dance at the party at night while everyone celebrates."

Before Percy could ask anymore, Yong Bao set off with his train.

"I thought that dragons didn't exist," Percy muttered to himself. "I know lions do, but how can they dance?" He didn't realize that Hong-Mei had been listening in, and had a crafty idea.

"Oh, dragons are real, alright," she said, puffing alongside Percy. "I know an engine who encountered a dragon in a cave long ago. As her fire was feeling a bit low, she decided to gobble him up for lunch!"

Percy's eyes widened with fright. "I hope the dragon at the New Year party doesn't get hungry…" he murmured.

"Oh, don't worry," comforted Hong-Mei. "I've dealt with these dragons before. They're tame enough if I collect them, but they get testy around strangers."

This was, of course, a complete lie, but Percy didn't realize this. He had been excited about the Chinese New Year at first, but now, with this idea of dragons, it made him rather nervous. As Percy puffed away, he didn't notice Hong-Mei snickering to herself.

Percy was rather shaky as he carried on his way. The mere thought of a dragon gobbling him up kept him on edge.

"No dragon's gonna eat this tank engine," he said to himself. "As long as I keep myself moving, I lose the risk of being seen as the first course. Oh, I wish my friends on Sodor were here…"

A loud whistle caused Percy to bolt down the line!

"It's after me!" he wailed.

"Percy?" It was Yong Bao calling out to the little green engine.

"Oh, sorry, Yong Bao," Percy said as he braked sheepishly. "I thought it was a dragon coming to eat me."

"What made you think something like that?" asked Yong Bao.

"Hong-Mei told me," explained Percy, and he told the red tender engine of what he heard from Hong-Mei. Yong Bao couldn't help but laugh.

"There are no real dragons," he explained. "Hong-Mei was just playing a trick on you. The dragon for our party is nothing more than a costume."

"Ohhh…" Percy felt rather silly for such a misunderstanding. Then he became cross. "Where's that Hong-Mei?"

Hong-Mei, meanwhile, had wisely disappeared. She couldn't help but laugh at how clever she thought she was.

"What a clever plan," she chortled. "That silly green caterpillar will think twice before making me look silly."

That evening, Hong-Mei was taking on water and getting herself ready for the party. Just then, Ms. Kim came racing up.

"Ms. Kim, is there something wrong, ma'am?" the blue tank engine asked.

"I've just received word from Yong Bao," explained Ms. Kim, sounding rather worried. "He says that Percy's gone missing."

"Missing?" Hong-Mei sounded a bit more surprised than she had intended.

"Could you go and search for him, please?"

"Of course, ma'am!" promised Hong-Mei. "I'll be back before the party." And she raced off.

As Hong-Mei raced along the line, she couldn't help but feel worried.

"What if Percy got into an accident?" she wondered. "What if he slipped off the rails in the high mountains and fell into a gorge?" Suddenly, she heard a whistle and looked ahead. A dark green tank engine with eight wheels was passing by with a passenger train.

"Hey, Xiao Hu!" she called. "Have you seen a green tank engine with four wheels and the number six in yellow on his bunker?"

"If I were stopped and asked about every colorful engine there was, I'd never get anywhere," grumbled Xiao Hu. "I'm not interested in playing hide and seek."

"But it's not a game!" Hong-Mei protested, but the larger tank engine had already left, much to her annoyance. "It's so hard to find decent help these days…"

Before too long, it was getting dark, and Hong-Mei was no closer to finding Percy.

"Just how hard is it to find a bright green tank engine around here?" she huffed. "That silly Percy could have probably found his way back to the sheds for all I know. I hope…" she added with uncertainty. Hong-Mei worried so much about Percy, she didn't notice the points had been set to a long, dark tunnel.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" she called, her voice echoing across the tunnel. Then suddenly, she heard a growling noise echoing back.

"Wh-who's there?" Hong-Mei called, trying not to let her fear show. "I-if this is a prank, it isn't funny!" Once again, she heard the sound of growling. "Dai Yu? I-is that you?"

All of a sudden, Hong-Mei's headlamp went out!

"Driver!" she yelped. "I can't see anything in here!"

"This has to be the worst possible time for your lamp to go out," her driver said, climbing down and carrying a flashlight to see in the dark.

"Please hurry!" Hong-Mei begged. "What if something or someone comes by and can't stop in time?" Her driver climbed up to inspect her lamp. He gave it a few hard taps before it slowly flickered back on again.

"We shall have to inspect your lamp when we get home tonight," he said.

"That is, if we get home at all…" Hong-Mei gulped, her eyes wide with fear. She looked back forward and nearly jumped off the rails! There, standing before her, was what appeared to be a…

"DRAGON!" Hong-Mei raced out of the tunnel as fast as she could!

Back at the main station, everything was nearly ready for the celebrations to begin. In the distance, the engines could hear the sound of screaming getting closer and closer.

"Is that Hong-Mei?" asked Dai Yu.

"Why is she running backwards?" added An An.

"She might crash into us!" cried Yin-Long.

Fortunately, the signalman diverted Hong-Mei onto a siding. The blue tank engine quickly applied her brakes, but it wasn't enough to stop her from hitting the buffers. Thankfully, they didn't break, nor did she derail.

"Why Hong-Mei, what's happened?" asked Ms. Kim.

"There's a dragon chasing after me!" cried Hong-Mei. "It found me in a long tunnel, and I think it got Percy!"

At that moment, everyone heard a whistle, and to Hong-Mei's surprise, there was Percy dressed to look like a dragon followed by Yong Bao, both laughing.

"Is this your dragon, Hong-Mei?" Dai Yu chuckled. "It's the tamest I've ever seen one!"

Everyone else soon joined in the laughter too. Hong-Mei was too flushed to respond.

"Percy told me what you said about dragons eating engines," explained Yong Bao. "So we worked together to teach you a little lesson."

Regardless of this setback, the Chinese New Year celebrations went off without a hitch. Percy got to stay in his costume to entertain the guests. But Hong-Mei was now even more upset with the green engine than before, and she began thinking of how to get back at him for making her look so foolish.

Author's Comments

Here's part two of the China saga, being an adaptation of one of the better international episodes from Series 22, and just in time for the Chinese New Year! Thomas and the Dragon does have the obvious glaring issue with not referencing the similarly-named episode from Series 3, but then again, by that point, continuity was very much "pick and choose" for the show, so I didn't really know what else to expect by then. Besides, the entire original show is riddled with inconsistencies. Something that I forgot to mention in the last chapter is that Dai Yu is the same nameless Chinese diesel that Thomas encountered during his trip across China to apologize to Nia in Big World! Big Adventures!: The Movie, and then made a brief appearance in The Water Wheel. Her name in Chinese translates to "black jade", a reference to her paintwork. Similarly, Quan Song is the green diesel shunter who made a blink-and-you-miss appearance in the actual Thomas and the Dragon, his name meaning "full pine", also a reference to his livery. I've even included appearances from Da Li (the large tender engine) and Xiao Hu (the large tank engine) from the original Yong Bao and the Tiger short that was exclusive to the Chinese release of The Great Race in 2018. All of this was done so that the China Railway felt a bit more populated. Topping off the Chinese cast is the presence of Ms. Kim from the Marvelous Machinery duology in Series 24, to give the railway an authority figure.

Next time, we have a bit of a chase with The Runaway Van!