The Moment


Dusty sped past Skipper and the tractors, determined to beat John the air commuter.

"Begin your climb now!" Skipper said into his radio.

"Roger that." Dusty replied.

Dusty began his climb than automatically began his dive.

"Yeah-baby!" Dusty yelled as he caught up to John's shadow and for the first time: he beat him!

"Dusty that was amazing!" Chug shrieked with excitement.

"Yeah!" Agreed Sparky.

"You went 311 Miles per hour!" He continued.

"Let's see here… you tipped over the tractors…you beat John while flying upside-down…and…you are officially the fastest crop-duster ever!" Sparky exclaimed.

"Really?!" Dusty asked excitedly.

"Yeah! The wiki said that the fastest crop-duster before you could only go 299 Miles per hour!" Chug finished.

"Whoa! So-I'm like-Oh my gosh!" Dusty said, "Well I guess that I'm ready now I should go get ready for the qualifier so…"

"Not so fast Dusty! You still forgot one more thing…" Skipper said mysteriously.


"Wow! The piston and cross-wrenches! Your squadron insignia!" Dusty gasped.

"You've earned it."

"It fits you Dusty…it fits you!" Chug wept.

"I'm so happy that you're my teacher Skipper! You've got to be the best one out there!" Dusty replied.

"Well I wouldn't say that…but of-course I taught a tow truck to fly when I was still young and I had a flying school…"

"What?!"

"Anyways that's a different story. I'll tell you it later."

"So…Volo pro Veritas…right?"

"Volo pro Veritas."


Chug was driving down the road to the entrance of the qualifying track when he saw Dusty fly above him.

"Hi Dusty!" he yelled.

"Hey Chug!" Dusty answered.

Dottie awoke from her sleep in Chug's trailer from his yelling.

"Aww shut-up you rusty crankshaft…" she growled.

"Oh sorry Dottie!" Chug apologized nervously.

As Dusty landed Chug and Dottie met him at the end of the runway.

The following sentences are in sequence Chug then Dusty.

"So are you ready Duster?"

"Yeah but I'm a bit nervous I mean…what if they don't allow me in the race! They don't have a picture of me or anything!"

"Oh come on it'll be fine, I'm sure of it!"

"Oh and Chug, you brought the specified fuel right?"

"Yep! The brand new fuel called AllinolEX! It's for planes!"

"What?! I thought that fuel was banned from the last World Grand Prix!"

"Well, some guy bought the company for 1 Billion dollars! And he completely re-did the formula for it. It's now considered the second best fuel in the world because Ripslinger has his own fuel so that no-one knows about its formula."

"Okay, whatever you say buddy."

Suddenly two arguing whispering voices were heard over the P.A. system.

"Turn the microphone on!"

"It is on!"

"Is it connected to the speakers?"

"No the red dot is not shining!"

"Then what are you doing?!"

"It takes 5 seconds for it to connect! See!"

"Oh-okay!"

Dusty and Chug looked at each other.

"Ned and Zed!" the said at the same time.

"Shhh! Quiet guys they're saying something!" Dottie said.

The following sentences are in order, Ned then Zed.

"Ladies and Gentle-planes and cars!"

"Please point your Windscreens to the skies above!"

"When he's grinning he's winning!"

"When he's flying he's trying!"

"The Prince of Propellers!"

"The one-and only!" They both said at the same time.

"Ripslinger!" said a green stunt plane that could only be Ripslinger.

"Ha-ha! You're caught in the riptide!" he chuckled.

"Ughh…I'm getting that bursting-flashy-unidentified-lonely-sad-and nervous feeling again…" Dusty moaned.

Chug made an attempt to comfort him. "Oh it's okay Duster! You're probably just nervous for the try-outs! And you gotta find a shorter name for your feeling!"

Dottie changed the topic. "Well apart from self-promotion at least he's modest!"

This seemed to change Dusty's mind off his feelings.

"Dottie! That's Ripslinger! He's the second-best world-champion in air racing and the Captain of team RPX! They call him 'The Green Tornado!' Oh, he's so good-he's pre-qualified for all the races!" He explained

"Well I guess if he wanted to have a break from racing he couldn't have one." Chug said.

"Maybe not…but-still! Why quit when you are about to beat the world-record for most races won in a row and about to become the number-one World-Champion in air racing! Oh-and those two-the ones who argued over the P.A.-Ned and Zed-'The Twin Turbos!' " Dusty and Chug said at the same time. "They are World-class racers!" Dusty finished.

As soon as he finished a male voice was heard from the P.A.

"Attention, all contestants gather at the runway! We are starting the tryouts. I repeat, the tryouts are now starting at the runway!"

"Well, that's our cue!" said Chug.


Dusty and his crew came up to the runway waiting for the announcer to say who is trying out first.

"Okay…let's see here…Fonzarelli! You're up my man!"

A yellow stunt-plane with blue stripes and flames made a retching sound and spit on the runway as he took off.

"Oh man that's nasty! And he's off! Okay people so the rules are that the contestants must pass through the blue pylons on the horizontal and through the red pylons on the knife-edge."

Fonzarelli did so as if he had done this a few time before.

"Okay he's lining up for the quadro! Wow and nicely clean and shiny through it too!"

The announcer that has now become the judge said as Fonzarelli sped through the quadro.

"Okay here comes the three-pylon chicane! Whoo! Smooth! Fast! Clean!"

Dusty watched Fonzarelli land and all the racers go one by one.

Then he heard it, "Strut Jetstream to the runway, I repeat Strut Jetstream to the runway!"


"Well" sighed Dusty, "Here goes nothing."