THE RUNAWAY VAN

Based upon "Runaway Truck"

A couple of days later, Hong-Mei was grumbling in the shunting yard.

"That's the third time that Percy has made a fool of me," she pouted as she biffed the trucks about. "First, he beats me in a race. Then, he gets me in trouble with Ms. Kim. And now, everyone's laughing at me for being afraid of a dragon costume! Could things get any worse?!"

As she said the word "worse", Hong-Mei had bumped straight into Lei, propelling him forwards.

"Whoa!" cried the magenta van. "I'm not supposed to be moving on my own!" Suddenly, Lei began to pick up speed, for the line he had been sent down had begun a downhill descent.

Hong-Mei was left surprised at what had just happened. "Oh dear…"

Further down the line, Percy was taking passengers with An An and Yin-Long when he saw Lei race past!

"Was that Lei?" asked Percy in surprise.

"He shouldn't be moving without an engine," remarked An An.

"He must be a runaway!" gasped Yin-Long. "We must catch him before someone has an accident!" But it would seem someone else already had that idea in mind…

"Come back!" cried Hong-Mei as she raced past.

"I don't think I need to ask what's happened here…" sighed Percy.

"Heeeeelp!" cried Lei as he raced out of a tunnel, leading down towards a snowy mountain. "Oh nooooo!" The hapless magenta van continued to scream as he rounded a bend, somehow managing to stay on the rails.

"Hold on, Lei!" called Hong-Mei. "I'll catch you!"

Further down the mountain, Yong Bao was traveling light engine when he heard the magenta van's panicked screaming.

"It sounds like Lei is in trouble!" he realized. Quickly, his driver switched the points, and Yong Bao reversed down Lei's line. The magenta van was getting closer and closer. Any minute, there would be a crash!

"Yong Bao! I can't stop!"

"Don't worry, Lei!" the red tender engine called. "I'm right here, and I'm going to help you!"

Before long, Lei buffered up to Yong Bao, who gently began to slow down, bringing the runaway van to a stop.

"Phew! Xièxiè, Yong Bao," the van smiled gratefully. "That was terrifying!"

At that moment, Hong-Mei rolled up alongside the two, coming to a stop.

"Lei!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

"I am now," said Lei. "All thanks to Yong Bao."

While Hong-Mei was glad Lei was okay, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that it wasn't her who saved him.

When Lei was brought back to the yards, he told the others all about what had happened.

"How did you know what to do in that situation, Yong Bao?" asked Percy.

"It's simple," explained Yong Bao. "I used tai chi to catch Lei carefully without bumping him off the rails."

"What's tai chi?" asked Percy.

"It's a special form of Chinese martial arts," said Yong Bao. "It's about finding inner peace, and moving with the flow. They often show a tai chi class outside in the mornings. Why don't I bring you on one of my jobs so you can see it too?"

"Oh, I'd love to!" smiled Percy. "Maybe then I could teach it to all my friends when I return to Sodor too."

The following morning, Percy joined Yong Bao with his goods train. As they stopped at one of the stations, Percy could see several people outside in the courtyard. They all appeared to be moving gracefully about.

"That's tai chi?" asked Percy.

"That's right," Yong Bao confirmed. "They're all moving with the flow instead of against it. The same way I moved with Lei before I could stop him safely. If I had been trying to go forward against Lei, he would have come off the rails, and possibly been damaged."

"I see," said Percy. "Whenever we've had to deal with trucks back on Sodor, they often push against or hold back on us just to give us grief, so we usually apply our brakes or pull harder to counter their tricks. Thank goodness the trucks here aren't like that."

Once they had finished with their goods run, Yong Bao brought Percy to the shunting yard so they could practice Railway Tai Chi together.

"The key to tai chi is to keep yourself focused," Yong Bao instructed. "Move with the truck. Not against it. Push one of those trucks to me and I'll show you."

As he was told, Percy pushed a truck towards Yong Bao. As the truck grew closer, Yong Bao reversed at a slightly slower pace until the truck came in contact with his buffers, allowing the red tender engine to gently brake to a stop.

"Just like that," finished Yong Bao. "Now it's your turn, Percy. Try catching this truck with tai chi the way I did." And he pushed the truck towards Percy. But instead of gliding back, Percy darted forwards and hit the truck with a bump!

"Whoops!" cried Percy. "Sorry!"

"Oh, such elegance!" Hong-Mei laughed sarcastically as she passed by. "Tai chi can only be taught to more advanced and experienced shunters like me."

"And it was this same advanced and experienced shunter like you who caused Lei to be a runaway in the first place?" scolded Yong Bao.

Hong-Mei didn't say anything to that; she just quickly sped away out of embarrassment.

"It's alright, Percy," said Yong Bao. "Don't you mind what Hong-Mei says. No one gets everything right the first time. Practice makes perfect, after all."

For the next several days, when both engines could find free time, Yong Bao and Percy practiced tai chi with the trucks. It took a while to understand. But in no time, Percy was getting the hang of it.

"It's a piece of cake once you get the rhythm done," Percy beamed. "I wonder if tai chi will help the trucks on Sodor be more well behaved too."

Percy didn't realize that a signalman had set the points ahead of him to the wrong line by mistake. And as Percy bumped Lei, the magenta van was sent racing onto the open line.

"Oh, not again!" Lei cried.

"Hold on!" cried Percy as he gave chase.

Out on the snowy mountain line, Percy raced after Lei as fast as he could. As soon as he managed to pass the magenta van, Percy saw a junction up ahead. Judging his moment well, Percy was switched onto the same line as Lei and remembered what Yong Bao said.

"Move with the truck. Not against it."

Little by little, Percy began to slow down until Lei had caught up with him.

"Gotcha!" he called, and very carefully, Percy brought the runaway van to a gentle stop.

"Oh, xièxiè, Percy," Lei smiled gratefully. "I didn't like going down that mountain a second time."

"At least you weren't going that fast backwards," Percy said, recounting a familiar incident when he was still newer to the Island of Sodor. His driver got down to couple Lei to the green engine so that he wouldn't run away again.

Back at the shunting yard, Ms. Kim was wondering where Percy had gone.

"I hope he hasn't been kidnapped," she said.

"Perhaps he realized he was so silly to come to China and show me up, that he's gone to catch the next boat home," teased Hong-Mei.

"That is not the case, Hong-Mei," said Yong Bao sternly. "Lei just flew down the line because of a careless signalman, and Percy had to go after him."

Just then, they all heard a familiar whistle. There was Percy pushing Lei back into the yard, tried, but triumphant.

"Here I am!" he panted, trying to recatch his breath from his chase.

"There you are, Percy!" smiled Ms. Kim. "I take it you managed to rescue Lei from his runaway?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am," said Lei. "Percy managed to run ahead of me. Then he got in front of me and slowed me down."

"I used the tai chi method Yong Bao taught me," Percy explained.

"I'm proud to see you've picked up my teachings so well," smiled Yong Bao.

"Oh, come on!" scoffed Hong-Mei. "I could have saved Lei much better than Percy could have."

"It's not a contest on who did the better rescue," scolded Ms. Kim. "It's about being in the right place at the right time to help someone in need."

Hong-Mei sulked as she puffed away. Throughout Percy's visit to China, he had shown her up in a race, made her look silly during their rematch, scared her with a dragon costume, and now, apparently showed her up by rescuing Lei before she got the chance to.

"I will not let that green caterpillar get the better of me…" she muttered crossly.

Author's Comments

The third chapter of the China saga is upon us, and if I'm being perfectly honest, this is probably one of the least inspired rewrites I've done thus far. Not that Runaway Truck was a bad episode; I do like it, but it's more the fact that there isn't much I could've done to tweak the episode besides doing away with the more cartoony elements and cutting the fantasy sequence. I apologize for the short description, but I had very little to talk about.

Next time, we reach the end of the saga with Hong-Mei in the Drink!