Hello! Luckily, in one day I'll be out of school for the summer and will have tons of time to write. Either way, I have read the novelization of Planes: Fire and Rescue and here is the movie in Blade Ranger's point of view. Major spoilers, obviously, will show up. Read it if you like, but this is just the start of my Planes: Fire and Rescue fanfiction.

Life doesn't always go the way you expect it but if you give up today, think all the lives lost tomorrow ~ Blade Ranger, Planes: Fire and Rescue

Chapter 1

I was sound asleep when I first heard the phone ring. I had only just settled down for the night, only just gotten to sleep, when it came. I groaned as I lifted myself up higher onto my landing gear again. So many fires in so little time, but, that was the life of the Piston Peak Air Attack Team. The work was exhausting, dangerous, and many had lost their lives protecting animal, car, and forest alike from forest fires but it was worth it. Especially to me.

The phone rang again and I forced myself from my comfortable position to take the call. To my annoyance, it was Cad Spinner, the park superintendent. If I could get rid of anyone in this park, it was Cad. The luxury vehicle was full of himself and selfish. It wouldn't surprise me if he would kill for money. Either way, he was an associate of mine, if you could call him that. He had gotten the park service to shift eighty percent of the budget -our budget- to support Cad's lodge restoration project. We needed more planes to help us. Now. It was fire season, and there was hardly enough time to put out all the fires -no matter how small- even with the lot of us.

Now I answered the phone, "Hello, this is Blade."

"You've got another plane to train," Cad said eagerly on the other end, "You think you'll like him? I think so."

I snorted, "A new SEAT? That's good news, thanks Cad." It wasn't really good news. As much as we needed another plane in our team, a trainee was time none of us could afford. After all, the new plane -whoever he or she was- couldn't help us fight real fires. Not until he or she was certified, and that took time.

I hung up. The last thing I wanted to do was chat with Cad. I then made my way back to bed, yawning as I did, and fell for badly needed sleep.

…

I snapped my eyes open to the alarm of my radio. I glanced over and read that it was four o'clock a.m.. I rose higher on my wheels and continued out of the hanger doors, passing the Wall as we called it. I looked solemnly from photo to photo until each and every fallen firefighter had been accounted for. One in particular caught my eye. His name had been Blaze, a helicopter almost identical to me and my own teacher and instructor when it had come to my certification. I remembered him laying there, dead long before anyone could get to him.

Then terrifying memory passed to terrifying memory. I clenched my teeth in frustration and guilt when I thought about my past, when I thought about my friend. Nick "Loopin'" Lopez had starred in ChoPs so long ago at my side. We had come to know each other well over the one hundred and thirty nine episodes we had starred in together. We had saved many a damsel in distress and caught many a crook in the show but… it wasn't for real. Not until… no. I wouldn't let my mind go back to those days, not the end of those days. Never again. Nick was gone and I was here. All that mattered was here and now.

It was then that I realized it was 4:34, later than my usual takeoff time in the morning. I shook my thoughts away from my past and to the future. Many a wildfire had yet to be spotted today alone, as the fires happened all the time here in Piston Peak National Park. Only the really big fires got into the news. Either way, any fire could be hazardous, even campfires if they got out of their boundaries and that was why I always got up as soon as the sun rose from the sky and dawn came: to go fire spotting.

I started up my engine and rotors and started to lift off into the air. Maru, our mechanic, came up to me just as I began to get liftoff. "Blade, the SEAT is supposed to arrive today, don't be gone too long."

"The SEAT will have to wait, we all have work to do," I answered bluntly.

Maru nodded, "I'll let the others know to be on the lookout. You even know who this guy is?"

"Cad never told me."

"Well, good luck," the four-wheeled forklift said as he drove back towards his place.

I took off into the sky, glad to get out of that hover as I had done when I was speaking to Maru. Just because it looked easy to hover didn't mean it was. Only the strongest helicopters were able to keep it up for prolonged periods of time. I was one of them.

For the most part, the park was quiet. Only the sighting of a herd of deer tractor broke my concentration, but that was what also made me come to the attention of a wildfire starting up in the valley behind them. The deer were driving for their lives in full panic, for even though the fire was small it could spread swiftly.

I called for Maru, who issued a warning to the other members of our team of the fire. I sprung into action, diving into the smoke and releasing fire retardant onto the fire strategically.

The smoke might make most gag, but when you've been fighting fires for years, you get used to it… sort of. I still held my breath when going into the thickest of smoke, but that was natural. Now, though, there was no need for such actions. The fire was largely undeveloped other than one spot and very few embers threatened to be shattered to prolong the fire.

I was on my second run though when the other of the team showed up. With them was an orange and white… it looked like a crop duster, but he looked like a racer in that he had #7 decals, wings of a military plane, and sleek lines not native to a crop duster's normal look. The plane couldn't be the SEAT, could it?