No Day but Today

Early Morning Training

Robyn entered the hangar and closed the door behind her once she was in, glancing around inside, it wasn't as big as the one she had at the Coast Guard, on the right side of the wall there was a radio in case she wanted to contact anybody, a place for her to sleep, one wall having two posters of Whitewall Falls and V-6 Valley, another wall having a map of the entire park, rolling up to it to observe it.

"This park was bigger than I thought." She said taking in all the landmarks on the map, seeing that train mountain she passed by while flying here, being Rail Ridge, makes sense. She also could see the Lodge, right dead center of the entire park, pretty far away from the base. "All this forest, this many firefighters, I don't know how they do it... no wonder their openings never close." She sighed, before backing up a bit and opening her left side door and letting her box slide out then closing it back. She starts to hang up her badges, some photos with her and her team and with Lorenzo and Wade, and the pictures of Germany she had taken the last time she was there, one of The Reichstag, a German Parliament, one of Hohenzollern Castle, and Naumburg Cathedral. She even still kept her headset with the added visor she wore when serving, bringing it along in case it could be needed. Pushing the box underneath a table after putting everything up, she decides to get some sleep for tomorrow, not sure how early Blade is wanting to start the training. Settling down in the bed, making a soft yawn as her eyes slowly close, falling into a deep slumber.

The next morning, some light shone in through the windows, but even more light shone in when her hangar door swung open, making her jump out her sleep.

"Robyn, let's get going." Called the familiar red helicopter. "Come on, get yourself awake, we have a lot to do."

Robyn blinks to adjust to the light, glancing at the time reading 7:20, luckily, she had a peaceful sleep and had no bad dreams. Standing up and sketching, then rolling out meeting Blade outside.

"Once were in the air, you'll get fully awake, I'm sure you're use to these early hours." Blade said as he rolled out to the open runaway, her following. She looked around the base, seeing some of the others awake, the rest must still be asleep, the two copters lift off and Robyn follows Blade to the destination to start training. A little bit into the flight, Robyn could see the waterfall.

"Now fighting wildfires means flying low." Blade started. "So, we have our own obstacle course, Augerin Canyon." He announced as they neared it, showing the Whitewall Falls ahead and a bridge with cars driving back and forth across, with huge arches along the way. Robyn eyes are taken off the sight and looking to the chief.

"Flying low?" She questioned. "Isn't that, just as dangerous? Being so close to the fires?"

"As long as you watch your altitude, steer clear from the smoke and the trees and you'll be fine." He answered taking a glance at her then back in front of him. "Saving you from the heat waves and preventing burns."

"I'll will try to remember that."

"Now, what you're going to do is go low and fly through the canyon's rocks, once you're at the bridge, fly under and pull out, then make your way back through." He instructed. "And watch above and around you for falling rock and landslides."

"Got it." She nodded and descended down as Blade remained above to observe. Flying down to the entrance of the canyon and picked up pace, turning and weaving around the formations then turning herself sideways to squeeze through a tight space. Seeing pieces of rock falling off the sides of the cliff and steers clear of them and the trees.

"Okay now just get to the bridge." Blade radioed.

Robyn looks ahead to see the said bridge, rising a bit higher, flying right under and rises up with a sharp vertical turn back the way she came to make the other passthrough. When going under an arch, a layer of rock started to come down in front of her, she instantly pulled back and rose out of there above the canyon. Blade was there within seconds.

"What happened? Why'd you pull back?" He questioned her.

"Some rock almost fell on me!" She answered him, making eye contact.

"I said to watch above you, if you pay attention ahead of time you could have of dodged right past it." He said, Robyn looking off to the side. "Sorry..." She murmured.

"Let's now head to Anchor Lake, that's step one to your next task of training." Blade leads the way with Robyn beside him. "Now with your helitanker being a little different than mine, it can be reloaded at the lake by a short hose attached to it, so you'll have to hover fairly close to the water to keep it submerged, so use your landing gear to stabilize yourself and keep your balance." He instructed. "Copy that?"

"I copy." She replies as they neared the lake, Blade hanging back as she approached close the water's surface and extracted her landing gear to keep her stable, waiting as her tank was filled, she pulls back up and retracts her landing gear, meeting back up with Blade. "Now let's head back to base, I radioed Maru to set up the oil barrels, you'll be practicing your aim." Blade said, both heading back. Reaching the base, you can see the lit barrels even from a distance.

"All you have to do is put out all the barrels at the same time." He said as she gives a nod and aligns herself to put out the three spaced barrels, Blade lands and stood a way beside them. Robyn starts to make her decent down straight toward the barrels, and spraying the water before pulling back up, the barrels remaining lit.

"Too high, it all turned to mist, do it again." Blade radioed. Robyn made her way back around to start again, having some onlookers of the team as they watched, she repeats the dive down and releasing more water, only managing to put out one barrel.

"Too low and not aligned, again."

She makes a groan and turns back once again, this was starting to get irritating... going in for the dive again, she hit the barrels that time...

"You got them all, but I wasn't one of the targets Robyn..." Blade said with a grumble. When she turned around, she saw that Blade was drenched, this earning a few laughs from some of the team.

"Sorry chief!" She radioed in as she came into land, slowing her engine and rolling on over, Blade had an unamused expression.

"Your aim definitely needs improvement, we'll be doing more of these tomorrow then, least it wasn't the retardant." Blade said.

"Least ya got a nice bath for the day!" Remarked Maru from behind Robyn, the mechanic receiving a glare as the tug just smirked before returning to his garage, Blade shook his nose.

"Were done for today anyway, same time tomorrow." With that reminder he headed off in another direction, Robyn was a bit exhausted from training and retreated to her hangar, pushing open the doors and leaving them slightly cracked for fresh air, she moved over to her bed and rested for a bit, and unintentionally had fallen asleep.