Chapter Five: From Racers to Firefighters…Almost
Sky sat off to one side, watching Maru work. Once Dusty got over his moment of shock, he allowed Maru to remove the tip tanks from his wings and attach a set of pontoons onto the racer. Maru sang softly as he worked, putting the finishing touches on the modifications.
"Not bad, Dusty." Sky mused. "You actually look pretty good."
"You make it sound like I never look good." Dusty said with a smirk. Sky giggled in response.
"These pontoons are gonna be key for firefighting." Maru said. "They may be old—"
"Old?" Dusty blinked in surprise.
"—but they'll let you scoop water right off the lake." Maru finished.
"You put old pontoons on him?" Sky asked skeptically.
"Don't you have any new ones?" Dusty said hopefully.
"New?" Maru laughed as he flipped his welding mask up. "We don't even know what that word means around here!" He tapped the pontoons, kicking up dust and making Dusty cough. "I rebuilt these babies myself. They're better than new. Give 'em a go."
"Huh?" Dusty tentatively began rocking on the pontoons, tilting and swaying. He began yelping a bit as he found he had no control over his movements. Sky ducked and crouched down as Dusty's wing flew over her head, smacking Maru's welding visor back down.
"Pop the wheels, genius." Maru droned.
Dusty rolled his eyes, unable to believe he didn't think of that. He popped out the wheels, allowing him to bounce up a few inches and roll around. "Oh! That's it! Yeah, I'm tall! Look at this. What do you think, Sky?"
"I think you'd make a clumsy boat." Sky teased, laughing.
Dusty mimicked her laughter in a snarky tone, but he caught sight of something on the wall across from him. "Hey! You guys have a Wall of Fame, just like the Jolly Wrenches!"
"Oh, cool!" Sky breathed, joining Dusty to see a section of the wall featuring photos of aerial firefighters and a couple newspaper clippings. Oddly enough, Sky didn't see Blade's picture up there, even though she thought for sure the chief would've made it.
"Hey Maru, how do you get your picture up here?" Dusty asked.
Maru paused, staring at the ground. "Crash."
Dusty's and Sky's faces fell, the two of them saying "Oh" in soft voices. Well…that explains why Blade isn't up there. Sky thought.
"Yeah, dangerous work." Maru said, organizing the garage. "But that's the job of a firefighter. Risking their lives for people they don't even know. They fly in when others are flying out." He paused. "Takes a special kind of plane. And immense bravery on your part, Miss Skylar Riley."
"Oh?" Sky asked still staring at the newspaper clippings. She couldn't help but think back to what happened at the Fill N' Fly. Mayday really did save her life, and he was willing to risk life and limb to help her. All these pictures on the Wall were of firefighters who actually died just from doing their jobs. How often did Mayday come close to dying just for doing what his job required of him?
"Humans who become firefighters are at a greater risk than vehicles." Maru explained. "They need a physical strength that's much greater than others their same age. They can't take the hits that a plane can. Not very many humans fight forest fires. Which is why you coming here might prove to be a challenge."
"I don't see how." Sky shrugged. "I can still ride Dusty."
"No, you can't."
The three of them turned to see Blade, having quite suddenly appeared in front of the garage. "What do you mean?" Dusty asked.
"Mayday asked me to train and certify the both of you." Blade said, a glare in his eyes. Dusty and Sky were beginning to think he usually had that look on his face. "The two of you need to be trained and certified separately. It'd be pointless to certify the two of you if you rely too much on each other."
"So what do you propose?" Sky asked curiously.
Blade cast a look to Dusty. "C'mere, Raven. Let's talk."
"Who're you calling 'Raven'?" Sky half-demanded.
"Have you seen your hair?" Blade countered as he began driving off. "Now get over here!"
Sky and Dusty shared a look before the former shrugged and hurried after Blade. "You know, I've been wondering something: why is it I've seen humans everywhere in the park except on this base?"
"You heard Maru." Blade said. "Human firefighters don't usually have the manpower or proper capabilities to fight wildfires in comparison to a more contained building fire. Your racing partner has some potential in becoming a SEAT, but you should just go home and have Mayday train you."
"Mayday's not able to train me." Sky protested. "He's kind of going through something right now."
"What is it?" Blade asked, a hint of worry in his tone.
Sky hesitated. Does he really need to know the details? Probably not. "He's getting refurbished. Getting up there in age, I guess."
Blade whipped around to be face-to-face with Sky. "You will treat Mayday with respect, ya hear?"
Sky glared. "I treat Mayday with the utmost respect. He's a good friend and he said you could train and certify both Dusty and me." Blade stared at her, his eyes locked onto hers. Sky refused to back down or be intimidated by his stare. "I will become a firefighter, and I trust Mayday's judgement in picking you as the one to train me. So will you please teach me what I need to know?"
Blade still stared at her. Secretly, he felt somewhat impressed by the girl's dedication. Why she was so devoted, he didn't know, but he decided to push it aside for now. "I can train you and your friend. It's just a matter of what job to give you. There's not much room in Cabbie for an extra Smokejumper, though."
Sky smirked. "If it's all the same to you, I don't think I'm too keen on jumping out of an airplane."
She said it half-jokingly, but Blade's glare deepened. "You best rid yourself of that attitude, kid. Being a firefighter means putting your own needs and comfort zone aside. If you can't follow orders—"
"Hey, take a chill pill." Sky snapped. "That was a joke."
"What we do is no joke." Blade growled.
"I know that." Sky growled back, not taking her eyes off his. She felt that electric shock again, but she ignored it as a different feeling overcame her: a desire to please Blade. She couldn't explain it, but she could feel her usual demeanor threatening to crumble in front of him, and she wondered very briefly if Blade was going through the same thing. Sky exhaled softly. "Sorry. I know what you do isn't a joke, and I'm willing to put forth the work and learn. Just…..please…teach me."
Blade still stared at her, as though trying to read her mind. If Sky didn't know any better, she would've thought she saw Blade's look soften a degree. "You always wear that bandana?"
Sky touched said piece of headwear resting over her hair. "Yeah."
"Start tying it around your wrist." Blade instructed. "Keep your hair tied back. You'll need that bandana to be easily accessible to wear around your face should the smoke get too heavy."
"Right." Sky nodded, pulling the black-and-white camouflage bandana off her head.
"You'll ride with me during training." Blade decided. "You gotta pull your own weight around here, got it?"
Sky nodded firmly. "Aye-aye, Chief." It took all her willpower to not call Blade "crankshaft," but for some reason the thought of even mildly insulting him sounded unpleasant. Why? Why am I thinking these things? What is it about him that suddenly makes me feel like I'm at home with Skipper?
"Fighting wildfire means flying low. And that's why we have Augerin Canyon, our own little obstacle course." Blade instructed, he and Dusty flying over said canyon to begin training. Sky rested in the helicopter's hoist hatch, her harness modified by Maru to wrap around her and hook onto the winch itself so she wouldn't fall out. She had to admit, the canyon was rather beautiful.
Way to go, Mayday. Sky thought. Perfect place for training.
"Stay below the rim. When you get to the bridge, fly under and pull out." Blade told Dusty.
"Flying low. No problem." Dusty assured in a somewhat cocky manor.
"Overconfidence. The kind of attitude that could get you killed." Blade growled, breaking off and flying up as Dusty dove down.
"Don't worry, he's got this." Sky assured. "Show 'im, Dusty!"
"Copy that, co-pilot!" Dusty said, diving down and beginning to weave his way through the rocks of the canyon. Whoa! He thought, keeping a tentative eye on his torque. I'm really speeding along! Is this how fast I go when Sky's on me? But he pushed the thought aside to stay focused on the course.
Blade and Sky watched from above, keeping at the same pace as Dusty. "Atta boy, Dusty." Sky said into the radio. "Keep it up. Remember to—" She yelped a bit when the hoist bumped into her shoulder. "Hey!"
"If he keeps relying on hearing your voice, he won't pay attention to what's going on around him." Blade's voice came in over her radio. "He needs to listen for orders, not mindless chatter."
Sky scowled a bit, but just rolled her eyes and said, "Copy that."
Blade looked back down towards Dusty, noting how close they were getting to the end. "Okay, go under the bridge and pull up." He saw Dusty speed up, but suddenly pull back again and bail out of the maneuver. "Why did you pull power? You gotta firewall it!"
"The bridge. It's too close to the falls." Dusty said.
"No excuses." Blade barked. "If there had been a downdraft, you'd be dead."
Sky and Dusty watched carefully as Dipper demonstrated the next lesson: how to scoop up water, this time off the lake. Blade gave his instructions, and Dusty headed down to the surface of the lake. He lowered the scoops on his pontoons.
"Come on, Dusty." Sky murmured. But she winced a bit when Dusty bounced off the surface of the lake.
"Twelve to fifteen seconds to scoop then fifty feet to climb out." Blade said, watching with some disappointment as Dusty skipped across the lake like a stone. "And watch out for the tree line!" He rolled his eyes as Dusty quickly pulled up and narrowly avoided the trees. "All right, Raven, let's see you do it. Just hang off the hoist and I'll fly across the lake. You only need to scoop for about ten seconds. Copy that?"
"Copy that." Sky nodded. She pulled a fire extinguisher off her back. Maru had taken an old fire extinguisher and modified it to work like Dusty's pontoons, allowing Sky to scoop up water to later use. Sky hooked the hoist to her harness. "I'm ready!"
"Ready or not, I'm going down anyway." Blade said, swooping down over the lake. Sky tensed, then jumped out. Blade let out some of the cable, causing Sky to dangle over the surface of the lake as he flew just a few feet above it. Sky unlocked the scoop, keeping a firm grip on the fire extinguisher as she dipped it into the water's surface. Blade pulled up after about ten seconds, Sky quickly closing the scoop and smiling broadly to feel the metal container full of water.
"I did it! Dusty, did you see me? I did it! Yes!" Sky cheered.
Fwoosh!
Sky paused in her cheers. In her excitement, she accidentally squeezed the trigger of the extinguisher. The water that shot out of the nozzle hit Blade's face, and the helicopter cast her a stern, irritated glare. Sky chuckled nervously. "Oops…sorry….." She chuckled again, only to look down as her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Blade let out an irritated growl, but said nothing as water dripped from his nose.
Thankfully, for both Blade and his trainees, the next lesson involved a lecture from Blade about the rules of firefighting and different techniques for dropping water and retardant. Maru joined them with a chalkboard and pointer. Dusty and Sky did their best to pay attention, Sky scribbling down notes in a notebook she packed. But neither were fully prepared for the amount of information thrown at them.
"Indirect attack, parallel attack, direct attack."
"Know what your fire is doing at all times."
"Wind speed and direction."
"Temperature and relative humidity."
It was enough to make Sky's head spin. But she stayed focused. The thought of Mayday counting on them was enough of a motivator.
"Finally, all aircraft must be on the ground thirty minutes after sunset." Blade finished. "Flying low at night is the fastest way to get your picture on the Wall."
Sky never used a fire extinguisher before, but after a crash course run with Maru she found it relatively easy to use. Dusty, on the other hand, found himself rather bad at dropping water. He at first attributed it to lack of practice crop dusting, but at least when he worked with Leadbottom he wasn't working with a target. Or, in this case, a line of flaming barrels set up on the runway by Blade. Said helicopter hovered near the barrels, watching Dusty try and put out the fires.
Round one: "Too early!"
Round two: "Too high!"
Round three: "Too low."
Come on, Dusty. Sky thought, watching from her vantage point in Maru's garage. I know you can do this.
"Those crops of yours, they die a lot?" Blade asked.
Dusty glared in irritation. Oh I'll show you.
Dynamite and the rest of the Smokejumpers decided to take Sky out to teach her how to be one of them, in hopes maybe Sky could find a job with them until certification.
"What we do is help build a line and clear debris so that the fire can't spread as quickly." Dynamite explained. "It requires quick and hard work to do this."
"I'm ready." Sky assured.
Well, she thought she was ready, at least. Sky liked to think she was pretty fit; heck, she was about as lithe as they came. When Dynamite began testing the girl's limits, she found Sky could lift rather large logs with minimal difficulty. The challenge came while they went out to practice in the forest, clearing brush away from the hiking trails. Dynamite explained their work needed to be done quickly, so she tried timing Sky and watching the girl try to clear brush away. Sky managed to grab a log and pull it out of the trail, but when she turned to grab another her foot caught the root of a nearby tree and she did a perfect face plant. The Smokejumpers winced in sympathy, watching the girl push herself upright and spit dirt out of her mouth.
Well that was dumb of me. Sky growled to herself. It soon became apparent she wasn't accustomed to Smokejumper work. Sky fought to not get discouraged. Mayday's depending on us. Just keep thinking that. I can't give up now.
The second time they went out to Augerin Canyon, Sky managed to convince Blade to let her ride Dusty and give him the extra moral support. The two raced through the rocks, easily dodging obstacles and did a few barrel rolls, shooting right towards the bridge and waterfall.
"Let's do it, Dusty." Sky encouraged, her psych-man powers keeping their connection up. I know we can do it. If I can give him that extra push, we'll clear the bridge no problem.
"Go to max torque." Blade ordered. Dusty began picking up speed, but his alarm instantly went off.
"Keep going!" Sky urged.
"Don't back off." Blade warned.
"Dusty!" Sky whined a bit when Dusty pulled up and out of the canyon.
"Ah, why did you bail out again?" Blade growled. "If you don't push it, you're not gonna make it. And you won't be certified!"
"Great." Sky huffed.
Dusty groaned a bit. Bad enough if I don't get certified. I can't hold Sky back.