Chapter One: Happy Halloween!
Raveena Crophopper shivered slightly against the cool October breeze as she waited with her father for the train to Piston Peak National Park. The platform was filled with a variety of people, men in business suits, folks in sweatshirts and jeans, one particularly pregnant woman had a bright green shirt and a pink cardigan overtop which gave Raveena the impression of a watermelon. The broken conversations she heard as people passed by were only somewhat interesting. Sports (namely racing, both aerial and track), politics, what restaurant had the best chilli con carne among other things. It had rained the night before so puddles of varying sizes littered the concrete. Raveena liked to watch the reflections of people and station lights in them. She did her best to stifle a yawn, but to no avail.
"Remind me again as to why and how I got dragged into this crazy adventure and was woken at such an unreasonable hour?" she said to her father with a cocked eyebrow and unamused look.
"Because," Responded her father wrapping an arm around her shoulder and smiling, "you went once when you were younger and scared me and you mother so bad that we didn't let you go again, but now you're older you wouldn't stop begging me to take you along some time as a birthday present."
"Oh yeah, I did do that, didn't I?" Chuckled Raveena.
"So, how ya holdin' up Ravi?" He asked noticing the fact that she had stopped shivering some now that she was firmly tucked against his side.
"If by 'holding up' you mean 'am I less cold' then yes, I'm holding up alright." Raveena hugged her father in attempt to absorb more warmth, "I'm hoping where we're headed is warmer than here."
Her father laughed and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry Ravi, you'll be having too much fun to notice the cold."
After giving her father a look which made Antarctica seem like a vacation in the Bahamas, Raveena heard the tell tale sound of a train's whistle. She danced a little in place not only to warm up, but of the pure excitement that she felt at being able to go with her father and see his other team.
One very long, very comfortable train ride later, Raveena found herself on the platform of the Fusal Lodge. She had seen pictures of it, but the last time she had been there she had been to little to remember, she was taken away by it's gigantic appearance.
"So Dad, who are we meeting here?" Asked Raveena.
"Buddy of mine, her name's Dipper." Replied her father.
"There's my Dustmuffin!" Greeted a voice.
Raveena's father had just enough time to turn around before being enveloped in a hug from a woman in a yellow flight suit. Her father returned the hug with as much gusto as it had been given.
"Hey Dipper, good to see you." He grinned. "I hope the Jumpers behaved themselves."
"You know them, I swear they all have horns under their halo's." Giggled Dipper.
"Right, sure." The sarcasm was palpable.
Raveena pulled slightly on her dad's sleeve to get his attention. He turned and pulled her up next to him.
"Dipper, you remember this little munchkin." He said smiling down at Raveena.
Dipper's eyes widened and she looked from Raveena to her father.
"She's you, only miniature, and with hazel eyes. Pretty." Dipper smiled.
Raveena's cheeks darkened.
Her father grinned and gave his daughter a one armed hug.
"So, let's get going shall we? Don't wanna let the others have all the fun." He said.
"As long as it's warmer than where we are now, I'm good." Grinned Raveena.
"Right then, follow me. I left my plane by the airstrip." Dipper said grandly.
Raveena and her father grabbed their luggage and followed Dipper out through the lodge and to the airstrip. When they finally made it to Dipper's Grumman G-21 Goose, Raveena couldn't feel her fingers and her face was a mask of ice. Her father and Dipper stowed the luggage and all three climbed in. After a brief moment of battling the various straps and clips. Raveena was soon strapped in and ready to go.
"You good kiddo?" Asked her father glancing over his shoulder at her.
"Yup, let the adventure begin!" she smiled.
"Hold tight 'cause here we go!" called Dipper as she started up the engine and taxied to the runway.
Two minutes later they were airborne and Raveena was thoroughly enjoying herself. She loved the sensation of flying through the air at speed with the world looking like a collage of bright fall colors. Far below, Raveena could see their destination. Upon arrival to the air base, all was silent, aside from the occasional clank of metal either from the man lifting weights or from one hangar which Dipper informed her was the dwelling place of the menacing mechanic of the west. Dipper and Raveena's father unloaded the luggage and the trio made their way towards the open hanger that Raveena's father would take residence in during his time on the base in the summer.
"I'm assuming Blade is out looking for spot fires?" inquired her father.
"Creature of habit." was Dipper's reply.
In the forest near the far end of the runway Raveena could hear the occasional shout followed by peals of laughter. She paused and tried to see if she could spot the source of the noise.
"That would be the Smokejumpers." informed her father, "You'll hear 'em before you see 'em, and judging by the sound of it, we won't be seeing them until dinner."
Dipper nodded conformation and they continued.
"I'll leave you two to get set up. Windlifter asked me to help him with something in the main hangar."
Raveena's father took a moment to gaze around the hangar. If memories were tangible, Raveena would have been in up to her ears.
"Heh, feels like just yesterday.." her father murmured.
"Dad, I can feel the nostalgia from over here." snorted Raveena.
"Yeah well, can't be helped I'm afraid."
"Yes, because all you old 'un's are prone to that sort of thing, along with broken hips."
"Hey!"
Raveena giggled and dashed up a ladder leaving her own suitcase and backpack abandoned by her father's.
"I'm not coming down until the memory tide goes out."
"By the end of this trip I won't be the only one who gets nostalgic about this young lady."
Raveena giggled, "Dibs on the loft!" she called a moment later.
Her father mumbled something along the lines of "dang kids" and something else that didn't quite reach her ears. After unpacking her backpack she had brought, Raveena took the opportunity to explore the rest of the hangar. She found more than one sneaky hiding place, a small closet with a window for some reason that she decided would make a rather comfy reading corner (with some minor adjustments), along with a kitchenette should she and her father prefer not to join the rest of the base. She caught sight briefly of several yellow, orange and black shapes darting through the trees in the evening sunlight as she joined her father on their way to the main hangar for dinner. It was here that Raveena met the other members of the Piston Peak Air Attack team. First there was the air boss, Chief Blade Ranger. Raveena decided within three seconds that he seemed like the kind of person she could grow to like, provided you stayed on his good side. Second was the pilot of the huge Fairchild C-119 she had seen when landing named Cabbie. Gruff mechanic Maru had showed up as well, a Nikon Rebel resting comfortably around his neck. Next was Windlifter, the American Indian who rarely spoke unless indulging an audience with one of his many fire filled folk stories. Patch, the resident meteorologist and DJ was there, sorting through an armful of what Raveena understood was merely a small sample of her extensive collection. Last, but certainly not least came the Smokejumpers. As her father had pointed out earlier, you could hear the rowdy crew long before you ever set eyes on them. First through the door were the three male Smokejumpers, Drip, Avalanche and Blackout. Drip somehow managed to hit every obstacle imaginable on his way to the table making him look rather like a mottled owl just learning to fly. Blackout was laughing as he watched Drip and behind him Avalanche called out a friendly greeting to those who had been on time.
"HELLO!"
"Hey 'Lanche." Greeted Raveena's father with a grin.
"HI DUSTY!"
" 'Lanche?" Whispered Raveena to her father.
"Avalanche. He triggered an avalanche, although he claims he was nowhere near that snow bank."
"And?"
"Blackout, he cut into a power line which ended up not only causing the Lodge to lose power but also sent some shockwaves through his short term memory."
"And the graceful one?"
"That would be Drip."
"Ah."
It was at this moment that the last two members of the Smokejumpers decided to make an appearance. First was Pinecone who greeted the enthusiastic assembly with a warm southern sounding "Howdy." which in turn, triggered a chorus of "hello's" and "hey Pinecone"'s. Next to Pinecone was the leader of the Smokejumper crew, Dynamite. Raveena had heard the story of how she'd earned the name and was determined to do her best not to end up on the Jumper's bad side. Dinner was a lively affair, scattered conversations centered mainly about the Smokejumpers antics and the occasional debate of whether or not Fall was the best season or Summer. (There were many mixed opinions along with one rather loud "FALL IS THE BEST BECAUSE WE HAVE MORE TIME TO PR.." the statement was cut off abruptly by Drip's hand as the results would have involved one of Maru's wrenches and the head of the offender.)
"Dad, I'm gonna head in."
"Alright sweetheart. I love you."
"Love you to."
Raveena rose from her place and called a friendly good night to the crew before exiting and heading towards the hangar she and her father shared. Tomorrow was another adventure to which she looked forward to with great excitement.
The next morning Raveena rose with the sun. She was to excited to sleep, it was her first official day on the base and, according to her father, their parties were something of legend. After dressing, she pulled a scarf up around her mouth and nose then went on to brave the cool early morning. One of her favorite morning routines was to get up before all the rest of her family and go out for an early morning walk. She would take the opportunity to meditate and focus to prepare for the day ahead, something she had learned from her martial arts school. She turned on her iPod and set one of her most favorite songs on repeat while she meditated. Perching on a mossy stump, Raveena closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. In, and out. In, and out. Presently, she felt the sensation of being watched. Something told her someone was reaching out to touch her shoulder. Like lightning she reached behind her and flipped a rather astonished Drip over her shoulder.
"NINJA!" hollered a wide eyed Avalanche.
"Sorry Drip." She apologized, "Are you okay?"
"Never better Kiddo." Grinned Drip. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Dad let me take classes when I went to boarding school for three years."
"Ah. Well, remind me never to sneak up on you again eh?"
"Sure thing" Raveena giggled.
"BLADE'S GONNA NEED A BIGGER WALL BECAUSE IN THREE MINUTES THERE ARE GONNA BE THREE NEW FACES ON IT!" Yelled Maru from somewhere near the base.
"Time to run," said Blackout, taking off with Avalanche close behind.
Raveena noticed that Blackout had a wrench in hand as he made his escape.
"You comin'?" asked Drip.
"Sure, why not?"
Raveena and the three male Smokejumpers took off through the forest, away from Maru, and far away from the rest of his wrenches. By about mid morning, Raveena and the three male Jumpers made their way back to the base cautiously.
"Do you see him?"
"Nope, coast is clear."
"Good."
"DIBS ON THE REMOTE!" Called Avalanche as he took off towards the main hangar.
"Hey!"
"Wait for us!"
Blackout and Drip chased after their friend. Raveena followed at a jog, questioning where her new friends got their endless amounts of energy. When she arrived at the main hangar, the sight that greeted her eyes made her laugh. Blackout was currently entangled with Drip and Avalanche who were fighting over the remote. Dipper, Dynamite and Pinecone were sat around a table with several pumpkins and a glittering array of knives, Maru was pulling something out of the oven which smelled heavenly, and sat in two of the over stuffed armchairs on either side of the couch watching the Jumpers were her father and the air chief.
"Hey Sunshine." Called her father when he caught sight of her.
"Hi Dad." Raveena grinned. "Hoping for sports?"
"Sort of, however there seems to be a bit of, interference." He said with a smile.
"Good luck getting them apart," said Dynamite. "The only ones who have the ability to maintain control of the remote for any sustained period of time are named Blade, Patch and Cabbie."
Raveena laughed outright at that. "Challenge accepted Dynamite."
Blade raised an eyebrow at Dusty and Dynamite, Dipper and Pinecone paused what they were doing to watch as the radio played in the background of the boys scrap.
"It's suicide."
"Hope Dust Storm's got a eulogy planned out."
"Dipper!"
"What?!"
Raveena merely grinned at them and walked towards the gladiators. All three were too wrapped up in trying to keep the remote away from each other that they didn't notice her approach them.
"S'cuse me boys, would you mind passing the remote?" She asked politely.
Drip, Blackout and Avalanche stopped fighting as Drip relinquished control of his prize to Raveena. She gave them a smile and turned to wave the remote at a rather astonished air base crew.
"And that, my friends, is how you get to watch cartoons all day." She giggled before sitting cross legged in the middle of the couch. Drip, Avalanche and Blackout filled the spaces next to her and were quiet for the most part as the show began. Dusty and Blade were sniggering at the faces of Dipper, Pinecone and Dynamite who all had their jaws to the floor.
"Ladies, close your mouths, you're catching flies," laughed Maru from the kitchen, he turned up the sound on the radio as a favorite song began to play.
Raveena giggled when Dipper, Dynamite and Pinecone closed their mouths with a click.
"It's one of the bonuses of being a kid," she said with a smirk.
Blade stood up and stretched.
"Time for a patrol, you comin' Champ?"
"For old times sake."
As soon as the two went out the door, a sly grin spread over Maru's face.
"Alright everyone, it's time."
At first Raveena was confused.
"Blade doesn't usually like us doing this, says there's too many fire hazards. While I completely agree with him, Halloween only happens once a year." Maru explained as he pulled a large box of orange pumpkin lights down from a shelf.
Dipper, Dynamite and Pinecone abandoned their pumpkin carving in favor of decorating the hanger from top to bottom in glowing lights, fake spider webs, and strings of candy corn. Raveena found herself helping Maru and Drip sort out the pumpkin seeds from the rest of the pumpkin guts when Drip had the brilliant idea of taking a handful of the slimy orange mess and chucking it point blank at Maru. This particular endeavor earned Drip a faceful of his own medicine and then some. Raveena laughed and slyly took a handful herself just to drop down the back of Blackout's shirt as he had cautiously edged his way into the kitchen in attempts to reach the lemonade. Raveena snuck up behind him and dropped the handful of pumpkin guts down his back.
"AAAAHHHH!" screamed Blackout standing up suddenly.
"Haha! She got you good Blackie," laughed Maru from around a well slimed Drip.
"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Blackout yelled while desperately trying to get the uncomfortable glob of cold gourd innards out of his shirt.
Drip decided that this was a particularly good time to lug a handful of the offending substance in Avalanche's direction, this of course goaded the former into chasing the latter all around the hangar, regardless of who or what was in their path. Raveena was having a hard time breathing as any breath she took was spent in peels of helpless laughter as she watched the two Smokejumpers.
"'Lanche, stay away from me with those!" hollered Drip from his hiding place behind Dipper.
"Don't drag me into this!" protested the yellow clad pilot.
"JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU DRIP!" growled Avalanche.
Raveena watched as the slimy orange mess sailed through the air, and landed square on Dynamite's chest. Avalanche noticed this of course and did his best imitation of a deer in headlights.
"'Lanche, it's on."
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"
Raveena wasn't sure how she was still standing, she was laughing so hard. Drip had managed to get most of the pumpkin guts off and was still trying to get the remainders out of his shirt while attempting to assist a squirming Blackout get rid of his own. Dipper, who had somehow come out of the fiasco miraculously unscathed, elected to help the two Jumpers as Dynamite chased a screaming Avalanche in every possible direction. Pinecone was also none-the-worse-for-wear and was about as much help as Raveena was. Maru had managed to save the pie's he had made and was just checking on them when Blade and Raveena's father walked back into the hangar.
"Maru, what happened, exactly?" asked Blade frostily.
"Halloween."
Blade looked as if he were going to say something more, but closed his mouth.
"That would explain why Avalanche and Dynamite were in such a rush," mused Dusty.
Raveena nodded, still unable to make any noise beyond a raspy laugh. Behind her she heard Maru mumble something that sounded an awful lot like "I know who's getting clean up after this." In any case, Raveena was certain that she wasn't going to regret coming up to the base with her father.
Several hours later, after a thorough scrubbing of the main hangar and a warm shower to rinse off all the pumpkin remains, Raveena found herself a participant in a massive game of flashlight tag. The goal of the game was to reach the bulging bag of candy just outside of Blade's hangar without being discovered. Raveena, the jump team, Dipper and Dusty were on one team and Blade, Maru, Patch, Windlifter and Cabbie were on the other.
Raveena, Dynamite and Pinecone were attempting to sneak past Cabbie when Pinecone stepped on a stick. It snapped and the three made a hasty dash for the safety of the forest. Unfortunately Cabbie anticipated this and poor Pinecone had to restart by Patch's tower. Dynamite was doing a fantastic job of sneaking past Blade, at least, she had been. Drip had also been trying to get past the air boss and hadn't noticed how close he was getting to the Smokejumper Captain, the two collided and Blade discovered them in a rather undignified heap just in front of Cabbie's hangar.
Avalanche, on the other hand, managed to get himself caught when he informed Blackout of how close he was to Maru's flashlight beam. Considering Avalanche was incapable of being anything but loud, everyone heard it and both jumpers were sent back to the restart. Patch and Windlifter were a force to be reckoned with, every time someone got even remotely close to Blade's hangar they were found out and sent back.
Dipper and Raveena's father hadn't been seen for a substantial amount of time and the hunters were beginning to worry. Raveena caught sight of them sneaking around behind the Chief's hangar trying very hard not to be detected by Maru and Blade, one of whom had not only a flashlight but a wrench at his disposal as well. Their attempts would have payed off, had Dipper not sneezed. Two beams of bright white light revealed their hiding place and they made their way back to Patch's tower grumbling goodnaturedly. Raveena herself, however, had either managed to slip under everyone's radars, or she was simply being led to think that she was just that good and was going to win the prize only to be discovered and caused to restart at the tower like everyone else. Raveena found that by slowly putting each foot down as she took a step, she could minimize the amount of sound she made. In this fashion, she managed to evade even Windlifters highly tuned senses and dart up the dusty hill to Blades hangar.
"Ha Ha! Victory is mine!" she crowed happily.
Blade sputtered and Maru had a look of absolute astonishment smeared all over his face, not to mention the looks Patch and Windlifter shared with Cabbie. The Smokejumpers did a combination of gasping and laughing that sounded like a cackle of hyenas with asthma while Raveena's father and Dipper just grinned.
"You were planning to share that right?!" Yelled Drip.
"Maybe!" Raveena giggled and dashed headlong for the main hangar, her retreat was swiftly pursued by a gaggle of Smokejumpers as the rest of the base merely sighed and followed along at a more comfortable pace.
They sat in front of the t.v, nevermind personal space of any sort. Jostling, laughing, yelling, stuffing candy in their mouths and occasionally stealing pieces from other folks. Raveena had a grin on her face that was as big as the whole valley. Her face hurt but she figured it was worth it, she got to spend one of her favorite holidays with her extended family and she was loving every second of it.
The next morning found Raveena and her father calling a cheerful farewell to the Piston Peak Air Attack base as they made their way back down to the Lodge to catch the train home to Propwash Junction. Raveena looked down at her phone, Drip had sent her a picture. Upon further investigation she found it to be a selfie of Drip and the entire rest of the base, grinning in that friendly lopsided way they had a habit of doing. The caption below made her grin even more, it was a poem from everyone on the base.
We're sad to see you go
But just so you know
You're always in our hearts
Though we're miles apart