HONG-MEI IN THE DRINK

Based upon "Thomas in the Wild" and "The Water Wheel"

Percy's visit to China was coming to an end soon; he was sure to miss his time there, as well as the new friends he made along the way. Thankfully though, Ms. Kim promised that there would still be more special events in China before it was time for Percy to go back to Sodor.

"Oh dear! It's hard to imagine that it's almost time for me to go home," sighed Percy. "It seems like only yesterday my boat first pulled into the harbor. Time sure flies by when you're having fun."

"We will miss you, Percy," said An An.

"Unless you can bring us along to Sodor too," suggested Yin-Long.

"That would be nice," Percy smiled sadly, "but you're both needed here."

The coaches sighed in disappointment. But they knew Percy was right. They needed to stay on their own railway the same way Percy would have to return to his own. But while everyone else would miss Percy once he left, the same couldn't be said for a certain dark blue tank engine…

"Good riddance!" huffed Hong-Mei, just as she was taking on water. "That Percy has brought me nothing but trouble ever since he came here. The sooner he goes away, the better."

"You mean you've brought nothing but trouble upon yourself," said Yong Bao. "Percy has been nothing but kind and helpful ever since he came here, and all you've done is given him the cold buffer treatment."

"He beat me in a race!" Hong-Mei argued childishly. "Not only did he disgrace me that way, but he made me look silly when my stones came out of my trucks, he scared me with a dragon costume, and then he beat me to saving Lei!"

Yong Bao sighed and rolled his eyes; even now, Hong-Mei just wouldn't let go of her one-sided grudge towards Percy. Just then, Ms. Kim came to see them.

"I have two bits of important news," she said. "Firstly, a film crew is coming to film a documentary about the giant pandas. I need one engine to take them to the nature reserve. Secondly, a new bamboo water wheel has just been completed. Another engine is needed to deliver it to the main village."

"As Percy is still a special visitor, I say he should take the film crew," suggested Yong Bao. "He would have a fun time seeing the animals."

"That's a rather noble idea, Yong Bao," smiled Ms. Kim. Hong-Mei just rolled her eyes; of course it had to be Percy, she thought bitterly.

"Taking a water wheel is so simple a task, any engine could do it," she muttered. Unfortunately, Ms. Kim had heard her.

"So, I take it you're volunteering for the water wheel task?" she said. "That's wonderful of you, Hong-Mei! The wheel will be waiting for you in Shanghai." Hong-Mei's eye twitched as Ms. Kim walked away.

Percy was surprised with the task he'd been given.

"A film crew to the nature reserve?" he asked. "To see giant pandas?"

"That's right, Percy," said Ms. Kim. "It was Yong Bao's idea. You'll meet the film crew at the transfer yards. Yen will be bringing them up from the airport."

"Who's Yen?" asked Percy.

"Yen is a narrow gauge engine who takes tourists to places in China where other engines are too big to fit," explained Yong Bao.

"I wonder if she would get along with the narrow gauge engines I know back on Sodor," wondered Percy.

"Oh, she's definitely friendly," insisted Yong Bao. "She hardly ever gets angry at anyone no matter what happens."

Percy, An An and Yin-Long soon arrived at the transfer yards. Standing on the narrow gauge platform was a red narrow gauge engine with eight wheels and a large cab to go with her tender.

"Nǐ hǎo," she greeted. "You must be Percy."

"That's me," the green engine smiled. "You're the first narrow gauge tender engine I've seen since Duke on Sodor. Are the valleys and mountains lovely where you get to travel?"

"Oh, yes indeed," smiled Yen. "It does get rather boring at times. So it's nice to come down to this yard and hear from the bigger engines what goes on."

From there, several people left Yen's coaches. Some of them had cameras on tripods.

"You must be the film crew," said Percy.

"That would be us," said the lead director. "Say, aren't you Percy of Sodor?"

"That I am."

"I say, this is quite the novelty!" exclaimed the presenter. "We're here to film the wildlife of China, and our train is being pulled by an engine from the Island of Sodor!"

Percy couldn't help but feel a little bit prouder about this.

Hong-Mei, meanwhile, was feeling less than proud. The water wheel had been loaded onto a flatbed, and had been coupled up behind her. And while a job like this was very important, there was only one thing on her mind.

"That silly Percy," she grumbled. "Now he's tricked me out of one of my favorite jobs." Now this wasn't really true; Hong-Mei had unintentionally volunteered to deliver the water wheel, but she was too stubborn to think straight. At that moment, she could see Percy and his train up ahead.

"Hello, Hong-Mei!" Percy called, giving a friendly whistle. But Hong-Mei didn't respond. She just scowled and raced away, leaving Percy feeling hurt. "Well, that was rather rude."

"Oh, that Hong-Mei is such a stubborn engine," insisted An An.

"I wish she would grow up already," agreed Yin-Long. "Sooner or later, she'll just get herself into trouble yet again."

"If Hong-Mei knows she'll get into trouble for the way she behaves, then why does she keep doing it?" Percy wondered.

"It's just how she is," insisted An An. "In Hong-Mei's mind, it's everyone else's fault but her own."

"One thing's for sure," added Yin-Long. "If she keeps this up, Ms. Kim may consider having her withdrawn from service."

Meanwhile, Hong-Mei was still racing down the line.

"Steady, girl!" warned her driver. "It's not a race!"

"That's what you think," muttered Hong-Mei. "Percy thinks he can be better than me? I'll show him! I'll show him!"

Hong-Mei was so caught up in her self-proclaimed grudge, she didn't realize that the points had been set to another line, away from her intended route.

"That's strange," puzzled Hong-Mei. "I don't remember our route being this different." Little did she know that soon, she would be heading for trouble…

Out in the wild, Percy led his train through the bamboo forest. The film crew took shots of the many different animals they encountered along the way.

"So those are red pandas?" Percy asked as he saw some small, red looking bears.

"That's right," confirmed the director. "While much different from the giant pandas, they are still of the same family line." Suddenly, they heard some rustling among the bamboo trees. "I think we just found them."

Slowly emerging from the bushes were a pair of black and white bears no larger than a wheel.

"Those are giant pandas?" asked Percy, a bit puzzled. "They don't look very big."

"That's because they're panda cubs," explained An An. "They may not be very giant now, but they'll be much bigger when they're all grown up."

"And there's the mother," added Yin-Long as a much larger panda emerged by her cubs.

"Well, they are rather adorable and cuddly," Percy admitted as he saw the cubs playing with each other. "If Mavis were to see this, she would gush over them like crazy. I wonder if Hong-Mei ever gets to see these pandas too."

"Is this Mavis a friend of yours?" asked Yin-Long.

"Girlfriend, actually," smiled Percy. "I miss her and the others back home. I hope they're having a good time back on Sodor."

Meanwhile, on another part of the line, a bridge over a river had been closed for repairs. Dai Yu and the breakdown train were helping the workmen with repairs. All seemed to be going well, until they heard a whistle.

"It's Hong-Mei!" gasped Dai Yu. "Engines aren't supposed to be down this line yet!"

It was Hong-Mei. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the bridge ahead of her until it was too late!

"Brakes, driver!" she shouted. Her driver applied the brakes, but it wasn't enough to stop Hong-Mei from sliding through the barrier, and plunging into the river!

Hong-Mei's crew had jumped clear, but her fire had gone out, and she was up to the middle of her tanks in the river. She couldn't speak due to the fact her mouth was underwater.

"Oh my!" gasped Dai Yu. "It's a good thing I have the breakdown train on standby. We'll have you out of there in no time."

Before long, the cranes fished Hong-Mei out of the river. Yong Bao had been called in to help out, and Ms. Kim was on board as well.

"Hong-Mei," she said, "you're not to blame for the points being set the wrong way, but perhaps next time, you will pay better attention to where you are going."

"But it's that Percy's fault!" Hong-Mei argued childishly. "He's brought nothing but trouble since he got here!"

"Percy was not the one who made you challenge him to a race, or make the stones fly out of your trucks," scolded Yong Bao. "Percy was not the one who made up that story about dragons who eat engines. Percy was not the one who accidentally made Lei a runaway. And it was not Percy who sent you down the wrong line! It was all you!"

Hong-Mei didn't have an answer to that, for she was shocked to hear it coming from Yong Bao.

"Like I've said to you before, Percy's been a kind, helpful sort since he arrived, and you've done nothing but treat him like a piece of scrap. What did he ever do to deserve such treatment from you?"

Again, Hong-Mei didn't answer, but her ashamed expression said it all.

"Hong-Mei," Ms. Kim spoke up, "before Percy returns to Sodor, you are to apologize to him for your behavior, and make things right with him. Understood?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," the blue tank engine said at last. "Transparently."

Yong Bao set off to deliver the water wheel while Dai Yu took Hong-Mei to the works. Clearly, the blue tank engine had a lot to think about.

Meanwhile, the film crew were just finishing up their film for the nature reserve.

"Thank you again for the splendid tour, Percy," said the director. "We'll be sure to tell the others on Sodor about this."

"It was a pleasure, sir," smiled Percy. "I'll be eventually returning home soon as well." Once all the film equipment had been loaded up, it was time to go.

After dropping off the film crew at the transfer yards for Yen to take home, Percy brought An An and Yin-Long back to the yards. As they arrived, Percy saw Yong Bao pull in with an empty flatbed.

"Nǐ hǎo, Percy," Yong Bao greeted. "How was the trip?"

"It was amazing!" said Percy excitedly. "Getting to see some pandas outside of a wildlife park is not something that happens every day. One of the panda cubs even batted at me with its paw."

Yong Bao laughed. "The little guy must've been very fond of you," he smiled warmly. "Much better than a certain childish tank engine."

"You mean Hong-Mei?" asked Percy. "Why, what's happened?"

Yong Bao filled Percy in on Hong-Mei's accident at the river bridge, as well as how he told her off for her behavior.

"Hopefully, this has left her with something to think about," said Yong Bao.

"Would it be okay if I went to see her?" asked Percy. "I just want to know why she acted the way she did around me."

Hong-Mei sat in the works, waiting for the workmen to begin repairs on her. By now, she had been thinking long and hard about her actions throughout Percy's visit. She began to feel rather ashamed of herself.

"Oh, what a silly engine I've been," she sighed. "Why did I have to be so petty and childish towards Percy?"

At that moment, the little green engine himself showed up at the works. Hong-Mei noticed, but neither engine said anything to one another for a moment. At last, Percy broke the silence.

"Were you damaged too badly?" he asked.

"Not really," admitted Hong-Mei. "A few minor scrapes. I should be back in working order in no time." Silence followed once again for a moment before she regained her voice. "I'm… I'm sorry for being so rude to you, Percy."

Percy could not believe what he was hearing. After all the times she had given him grief, Hong-Mei was now apologizing to him? He didn't say anything, for nothing came to mind.

"I love being able to prove myself to others," explained Hong-Mei. "One of those chances was in the Shunting Competition at the Great Railway Show last year. But when I found out that someone had gotten a better time than me, I became cross. Then when you came here, I wanted to make up for that by trying to be better than you at racing." She sighed. "And now, look at where that got me…"

"Is that why you were acting so rude?" asked Percy. "Because you didn't want others to think I was better than you?"

"Yes," Hong-Mei admitted, shamefully.

"Hong-Mei, I wasn't trying to be better than you," insisted Percy. "I was just trying to be really useful and help out during my visit. It shouldn't be a contest over who the better engine is. The only time engines should get into races like that should be just for having fun."

"Percy?" Hong-Mei asked. "Do you think you and I could start over and be friends?"

"I'd like that," smiled Percy. "Having a friend is much better than having an enemy." For the first time in ages, Hong-Mei smiled; this time, it was genuine.

It wasn't long before Hong-Mei was back at work again, and this time, she focused more on her work than competing with other engines. She even apologized to those she had antagonized in the past, much to their surprise; they even wondered if this was the same Hong-Mei!

Before long, it was Percy's final night in China. All the engines were in the sheds; the only one who seemed disappointed was Hong-Mei.

"It's not fair," she pouted. "Percy and I finally become friends, and now he has to go home in the morning!"

"I know," sighed Percy. "I wish I could stay a bit longer. But then my friends back home would miss me."

"Do not think of this as leaving new friends behind," suggested Yong Bao. "Think of it as a means of sharing the information you've learned with your friends back home. Besides, perhaps we could end up coming to Sodor for a visit someday."

Hearing this made Percy feel a bit better. Then, a thought came to him.

"Say, Yong Bao," he ventured, "why do you have that tiger painted on your tender?"

"Ah, that's quite the interesting story," Yong Bao smiled. "Would you like to hear about it?"

"Oh, yes please!"

"Well, many years ago, I was first painted in a dark blue…" But I mustn't say any more, lest I spoil the whole story for the future.

THE END

Author's Comments

And so we've reached the finale to the first book of the second season! Thomas in the Wild and The Water Wheel are both pretty lousy episodes for different reasons; to call the former a nature documentary is being generous, and the latter tries so hard to be entertaining that it comes off as mediocre at best (not to mention the message has nothing to do with the episode itself). This is one of those cases where we take two lackluster stories and make one good story out of it. Hong-Mei once again screws herself over trying to upstage Percy, only to realize how much trouble it's causing her. This was very much her arc in this book, understanding that constantly trying to be the best is an unhealthy mindset to have. Maybe not the most original or interesting character arc to go with, but if something works, why go against it? In addition, we've included Yen the Chinese narrow gauge engine from the Really Useful Around the World shorts from 2015 and 2016. Mind you, this is not the last we've seen of China in season two; we've got a couple of more stories set in that country to go through.

Next time, we return to Sodor to find out why Rosie is Red!