Part 3: Common Interest

Maru was enjoying the Corn Festival just as much as anyone else but he needed some air.

Too crowded! Need space!

He had to admit, he wasn't used to being around so many people. Last time he was in a crowd this big was back at the Fusal Lodge but that was different.

He found himself at the Fill n' Fly. It was the least crowded part of the town at the moment. There were a few people but it was mostly empty. He wandered around, looking at a few things. His eyes soon landed on the workshop in the back. The doors had been left open and he could see all the various tools and parts stacked up inside.

I bet that's where Dusty usually gets his tune ups from his mechanic.

He looked around before going inside.

No harm looking around. I ain't stealing anything.

He let his eyes wander around the workspace. It was a lot like his own, albeit a bit cleaner and a little more organized. (Also, had quite a few decorations too. Mainly racing related souvenirs and banners.) In addition, seemed like the equipment was more up to date than what he had. Nothing fanc, but it was different, that he was sure about.

His eyes got a little wide when he saw some of the parts that were lying around.

No way! They have the old fashion single flyer aircraft shell wings!? He thought as he looked at the pair of wings that were leaning against the wall.

I haven't seen wings like these in years! I wonder if they still have-

"Can I help you sir?"

Maru jumped, accidentally banging his head against the wings in front of him.

"Ow!"

He heard someone rush over to him, then felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

"You okay? I'm so sorry I spooked you. Didn't mean to, honest."

Maru waved a hand while using the other one to rub his head. "I'm fine, I get hit on the head constantly. Nothing to it."

Maru opened one eye to see a young woman in front of him. She had bright reddish brown eyes and dark black hair that was pulled back into a tight bun. The way she was dressed was enough to tip him off who she was.

"I suppose you're the mechanic who owns this shop?" he asked.

"Yep. Well, co-owned with my partner Chug. I'm Dottie."

"Maru at your service… when I don't have a headache."

"Here, you better sit down."

Dottie lead him over to the tune up chair in the center of the room, letting him sit down. Maru rubbed his temples for a few moments before he finally felt the pain leave.

"Ah, much better."

He saw Dottie kind of eyeing him a little, almost in a bit of bewildered way.

"What? Do I have fire retardant on my face?"

"Oh, no… I… Maru, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. What about it?"

Dottie smiled. "I didn't think I'd get a chance to meet you. Dusty told me a lot about you. I wanted to thank you personally for fixing him up, it means a lot. He's one of my best friends."

Maru smiled a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, it's nothing. Couldn't just let him stay broken like that. Just did what I had to do."

"It's something to me. The fact you built a gearbox… that's impressive. I could never do that."

"Well, when you work in the conditions like I do you basically learn to build pretty much anything from scratch. I've built pontoons, some other gear, even a tower from scratch! All better than new!"

Dottie giggled. "That's incredible."

Maru chuckled, feeling a bit of pride. "So, you're Dusty's mechanic?"

"Yes. He's my best customer."

"Heh, figured as much with all he's doing to himself I'm not surprised."

"Yeah but yet I let him do it anyway, save the gearbox issue. Gave him that bracelet for a reason, even if it hurt a little to do so." Dottie frowned a little. "I never saw him so sad."

Maru put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, he's all better now and when you had to do that it was because you were looking out for him. You weren't trying to force him to give up racing, were you?"

"No. I would never do that. I just didn't want him to crash."

"Then there ya go. Speaking of that bracelet, did he happen to smash it after he came home?"

Dottie couldn't help but start laughing. "After I had done my check up on him he asked for the nearest hammer. I let him have at it since I can just build another one if he needs one."

Maru laughed as well. "Good, he earned that after all he went through and I doubt he'll be needing a new one anytime soon. That gearbox is built to last."

"Yeah." A thought crossed Dottie's mind that caused a worried look to appear in her eyes.

Maru raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Well… I trust what you say about it holding strong but what if something in it breaks? I don't know how it's built. I won't be able to fix it."

Maru scratched his head in thought. He smiled when the idea came to his head. "Then I'll teach you how it's built."

Dottie looked at his surprised. "Really?"

"You bet ya. I'll teach ya how to build it too and maybe some other tricks that could come in handy."

Dottie smiled. "That would be wonderful."

The two got to work right away. Pulling out parts, tools, blue print paper to draw on and many other things. They were completely immersed in their work, not really keeping track of the time. The two chatted up quite the storm as they worked on the little gearbox model, sharing stories about various works they had done on certain mechanids and even mishaps when working on something.

"Blew right up in my face." Maru said, using his hands to mimic and explosion. "Was covered from head to toe in fire retardant. I was thanking the heavens above for not having my smock and cap on. They would've been hard to wash. That didn't stop Dipper from nearly falling over laughing when she saw me. She said, and I quote, "Pink is a good color for you!"

Dottie giggled. "Oh goodness."

"Took all day to get the stains out but as you can see, my shirt still has the battle scars to prove the event happened."

"I've never had anything like that happen. The worst I've done wasn't even working on something."

"Do tell."

"It was the same week that Dusty was going to participate for the qualifier in the Wings Around the Globe Rally. I was a bit ticked with him since he had worn out his main oil seal again and I was trying to get my point across to what would happen if I pushed it too far and I broke a lamp when I threw my wrench." She pointed over to said lamp. "It's fixed now but sparks did fly. It got my point across though."

Maru broke down laughing, banging the table a little with his fist.

"Ha! Classy!"

"That was vivid and specific." That's exactly what Dusty said!" Dottie added, giggling a little.

"Sure sounds like him! You should've seen his face when Blade told me to rip of his racing gear."

"What did it look like?"

Maru made his eye wide and let his jaw drop. "He was like "WHAT?!"

"Oh gosh!"

The two had to give themselves a moment to laugh it out before composing themselves. Soon as they were, they finished up the model.

"There, easy as that." Maru said as he presented the model gearbox to her along with the blue prints.

Dottie took them, smiling. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, it was fun working with you. You're a really sharp mechanic. Dusty is lucky he has ya."

Dottie blushed a little, giggling. "I just do my best."

"And that's all anyone asks for you."

Dottie looked down a little, a bit of a sheepish look on her face. Maru gave a warm smile as he tipped her chin up a little. "There we go, head up straight. It suits your better."

The two locked eyes, gazing at each other.

He's really sweet.

Never met a girl so smart like her.

"Maru!"

The two broke from their gaze as they looked towards the entryway to see Blackout.

"There ya are, been looking for ya. We gotta go, the festival is over."

Maru blinked back surprise. "It is…?"

"Yeah, we gotta get going if we're gonna get back to Piston Peak in time."

"Oh… right."

Maru looked at Dottie again. He didn't want to go now. He wanted to talk with her more.

"You better get going."Dottie said, smiling a little. "Your team needs you."

Maru nodded as he made his way for the door. He followed Blackout to where the team was.

"Alright, ready to go Maru?" Blade asked.

Maru gave a slight nod before putting a hand up. "Wait! I gotta do something real quick! I'll be back in a few seconds I promise."

He rushed back over to the shop. Dottie was surprised when he saw him come rushing in.

"Forget something?" she asked.

"Yeah."

He grabbed the closest piece of scratch paper, jotting something down before handing it to Dottie.

"I better keep in contact with you in case you need to know anything else about the gearbox and I want to check in here and there to see how Dusty is doing."

Dottie looked at the paper to see a radio contact written down. She smiled, nodding. "I'll be sure to contact you soon."

"Good, see you around, Dottie."

"See you, Maru."

Maru grinned as he made his way back to his team.

"What was that all about?" Cabbie asked.

"My business, now fly." Maru said as he strapped himself into Cabbie's aircraft shell with the Smokejumpers.

Cabbie rolled his eyes as he took off with the others. Maru closed his eyes, smiling to himself. The Smokejumpers couldn't help but eye him.

"Why he smiling like that?" Drip asked, whispering.

Pinecone giggled. She knew that look. "Like he said, his business."