A Fishy Situation - ThomasNATION Fanstory
February 25, 2023
It was a dreary day on the island. A violent hurricane trickled down across the railway. There were talks about shutting down the stations due to concerns of flooding. But for the time being, the engines had to continue their jobs, and as you could probably guess, none of them liked working in the rain, especially James.
"Ugghh!" moaned James. "It's not fair! My splendid beauty should be shining in the glow of the sun, literally dancing in the shadows, but no, my paintwork's being ruined with mud and rain and sleet-"
"Alright, we get it." Thomas, Norman and Emily grumbled, clearly exhausted from James' complaining.
"I'm just saying," James rolled his eyes.
Just then, an old familiar face rolled into the station. Someone Thomas hadn't seen in a while - Arthur. He was strangely kinda happy during the downpour. "Hello, everyone!"
"Oh, hey, Arthur," said James. "where have you been? We haven't seen you in a while."
"I've been on my branchline." chuckled Arthur. "Keeping everything tidy, maintaining the lines, all that stuff. Anything important happen while that was going on?"
"Oh, wow," Thomas laughed, "where do I begin? First of all, I stumbled across this strange island-"
"Ah, Arthur!" said Sir Topham Hatt as he walked up to the engines. "Just the engine I've been looking for! I have a very important job for you tonight."
"Oh? What's up, sir?"
"Henry's being held up on the mainland due to the storm, so I need you to take the Flying Kipper tonight. I know how responsible you are with fish."
"It's my specialty, sir!" chirped Arthur.
"I knew you were the right engine for the job." smiled Sir Topham Hatt. "Now, this is a very heavy train, so I'll need to appoint you a banker engine."
One by one, the engines at Knapford started leaving. They really didn't like working with fish. "Oop, I gotta run," yelped Thomas.
"I need to go to the mountains," said Emily.
"I lost my buffer." lied Norman.
At the end, it was just James. "Wait, no, don't leave me alone with them!" he cried.
"James, seeing as you seem to be the only one left standing," started Sir Topham Hatt, "I suppose you'll do for tonight."
James was mortified. "But sir, there are a ton of other engines on the island! And I have all my jobs to do!"
"It'll just be one fish run," sighed Sir Topham Hatt. "your jobs will still be there for you in the morning."
"Sir, please!" James protested. "There has to be another engine! What about Rebecca? You know how she tamed the Troublesome Trucks."
"James, behave yourself." said Sir Topham Hatt, fed up. "Do you want me to take away your coaches again?"
This shut James right up. "...I'll behave."
"Good. Now, meet Arthur at the docks at 9:30pm. No later, James."
That evening, the engines of Tidmouth Sheds were settling in for the night. The hurricane was still pounding down and dampening the rails. Though they weren't as damp as James' demeanor.
"It's not fair!" he said. "I'm the most splendid engine on Sodor, I can't be stuck on demeaning jobs like...fish!"
"He said it'll be one fish run, James." Emily sighed. "And besides, you know how careful Arthur is with fish."
"Does he still have that spotless record?" Percy wondered.
"No idea." thought Thomas. "James, can you ask him?"
"Ask him yourself. I'm not going." James pouted.
The Steam Team groaned in annoyance. "Will you stop your whining, James?" Gordon groaned. "Just pull the Kipper and get a wash once you're done. That'll be that. Henry will be back in the morning. No more fish."
"I don't care." James grumbled. "I'm staying right here until the morning."
Just then, Paxton rolled up to the sheds. "Uh, excuse me? I was, um, told there'd be an empty berth tonight, and Diesel took my berth, so, um..."
James rolled his eyes and left. "Fine! I'm going."
James begrudgingly entered Brendam Docks. All he could hear was the deafening sound of rain and thunder - but no one else. "Where is everyone?"
"Salty and Porter are already asleep," whispered Carly, "but Arthur never showed up. He was supposed to be here half an hour ago."
"What?!" James cried. "I have to pull this smelly old Kipper myself?!"
"Sorry, James."
James was absolutely livid. "Unbelievable! How can this night possibly get any worse?"
Just then, a strong gust of wind blasted through the docks, throwing crates and barrels everywhere...including on the Kipper. By the time the wind settled, nobody was hurt but the Kipper was an absolute tip! Fish and wood planks were scattered everywhere.
"...huh." thought James as he began to leave. "I guess that's one way to get out of this."
"James!" cried Carly. "Where are you going? We need to tidy this up!"
"Relax!" laughed James. "It's just one night without the Kipper! What could happen?"
Well, we'll get to what happens when it does. The next morning, James was ready to do his work, particularly as he sped into Knapford. "TA-DA! Here's James!"
"Morning, James." said Percy. "How was pulling the Kipper last night?"
"The funniest thing happened," replied James. "Arthur never showed up. I guess he slept through it."
"Actually," said Arthur from the other platform, "I tried to get there on time, but I got held up by a fallen tree. Didn't you deliver the Kipper last night?"
"Uh..." James stammered.
"No-one delivered the Kipper last night." said Sir Topham Hatt, frustrated. "Porter told me that all the cargo had tipped out last night. What happened, James?"
"Me?" gasped James. "Why are you asking me?"
"You were the only one who showed up last night."
"Oh, right. It was blown over by a gust of wind."
"And you didn't think to help clean it up?"
James was well and truly cornered. He didn't have a response. All he could muster was a little "...enhhh."
Sir Topham Hatt sighed. "James, why am I not surprised? I asked you to be Arthur's banker engine, just to push a line of trucks and you couldn't even do that."
"But sir-"
"No excuses, James. You both will pull the Kipper tonight. We'll have to put in extra to make up for the fish that was spilled last night."
"What?! But Henry's back! He can do it!"
"James!" scowled Sir Topham Hatt. "You will pull the Kipper or I'm taking away your coaches for the rest of the month."
"Yes, sir." sighed James.
As Sir Topham Hatt left, Arthur turned to James. "You know, you can't act like you didn't bring this on yourself."
"But I can't be caught pulling smelly old fish! I'm too splendid to pull such a stinky train."
"Yeah, well, maybe there are times where you have to put your ego aside. I mean, what's more important - helping the railway or keeping your paintwork shiny?"
"Uh...helping the railway?"
"That's right. Now, come on. Let's get this over with, eh?"
That night, the storm was pounding even heavier, but that wasn't gonna stop James and Arthur. They just kept on moving through the hurricane.
"See, James?" called Arthur. "Isn't it nice?"
"It's not as stinky as I imagined," chuckled James, "or perhaps that's just the rainwater drowning out the smell."
"Right? It's not that bad!" said Arthur. "This is easy!"
And then there was trouble. Another gust of wind blasted through the line, once again knocking over the extra fish. Once it settled, the Kipper was an absolute tip. Arthur and James were covered in fish. There was no way this situation could get worse.
It got worse. "Ha ha ha! Oh, look at this, big, splendid James covered in stinky fish?" laughed Diesel as he rolled past.
"Hey, would you get out of here?" growled Arthur. "Sorry about that, mate. I guess this is a pretty rubbish way to spend the night. You'll probably be wanting to go back to Tidmouth, eh?"
"Actually, I think we should clean all this up." James thought.
"Oh? But your paintwork."
"Eh, I'm not getting any stinkier, may as well."
Arthur smiled. "That's what I like to hear."
James and Arthur had cleaned up the mess and successfully pulled off the journey. They were finally headed back to the docks, where they were greeted by Salty and Porter.
"Nice work, boys!" smiled Salty.
"Thanks, Salty." said Arthur. He looked over to the horizon to see nothing but clear skies. "Hey, looks like the hurricane's dying down."
"And not before time, too," chuckled Porter, "because now we can finally get back to work."
"I hope so," smirked James. "I'm just glad they didn't shut down any of the routes. Now I can get back to what I do best."
"Wait, I thought the Main Line was flooded." thought Arthur. "Isn't that the line you commonly run on?"
"...oh." said James, utterly stunned. "Ah, well. Not like there aren't other ways to help out. Uh, Arthur, need any help on the branch line?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, you were a big help last night. I suppose I owe you one."
"I guess I could do with a helping hand." chuckled Arthur. And with that, the two left to work on the branch line. And for the first time in ages, James wasn't worried about his image.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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