Bolts and Trials (Disney Planes: Fire and Rescue Fanfiction)

Chapter One

"Dusty...You...Are a mess..."
"But you still love me."
Dottie sighed, smiling lightly as she worked on Dusty's engine.
     "At least it's been quite a while since you've busted something. I've had a nice long break from you," she teased.
    Dusty feigned a hurt look.
"Ugh...This is such a tight space in here.." Dottie grumbled to herself as she poked at one of the compartments in Dusty's engine.

Chug suddenly burst into the Fill N' Fly, completely drenched.
"Boy, is it raining hard!"
Dottie looked up from her work, giggling.
"I see that."
"Wow...It's so weird how nice of a day it was earlier when I was dusting crops, but now-"             "Hold on. Did you say dusting crops?" Dottie asked, puzzled.
      "Oh, well...I uh..." Dusty began sheepishly, staring at the ground.
     "I never thought you'd return to cropdusting after getting to where you are now," Dottie stated, eying him curiously.
"I saw Leadbottom working, and he looked lonely, so I offered to help...I mean, it's not like I dislike him. We spent a lot of time talking together about other things than just dusting crops. I know he can be unsympathetic some times, but I still feel some kind of loyalty to him. He wasn't bad to me," he explained.
      Dottie studied him thoughtfully.
"You're really one of a kind, Dusty," she remarked.
      "You're gonna make me cry!" Chug whimpered.
      Dusty chuckled.
"Do you remember when we were all at Honkers, and Leadbottom came in after he heard about my gearbox?" he asked.
     "Yes, an example of his lack of sympathy," Dottie snorted.
"Yeah, but you know, I think he just wanted to have me to talk to again. I was the only one working with him. That was pretty insensitive, but I understand why he acted that way," Dusty reasoned.
"I guess that makes sense," Dottie sighed, switching out her wrench for a smaller tool.
      "Ya know, we haven't had any customers all day! Ain't that weird?" Chug exclaimed, rolling over to a stack of oil cans.
      "Huh..." Dusty uttered.
      "I don't find anything very weird about it. It's happened once at the shop of the guy who I trained under to be a mechanic," Dottie stated, opening one of the compartments in Dusty's engine.
      "There might be aliens..." Chug muttered.
      "I think that would be the very LAST reason why no one has been here today, Chug," Dottie sighed, smiling lightly.
      "Ouch!"
      "Oh, sorry Dusty!"
Dottie pulled away from her work in alarm.
    "Ts..."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah..Yeah, I-I'm fine.."
"I'm so sorry, how bad did I hurt you? It was such a small space it was hard to see what I was doing!"
"It's fine, really! It was just a surprise," Dusty reassured, managing a slight smile.
Chug glanced over at the two.
"Something bothering you, Dottie? You haven't done that before," Chug commented with concern as he added two more oil cans to the stack.
      "No, it's just the gearbox that Maru made is a little bit different from Dusty's old one. It's the same, but different...If that makes any sense," Dottie explained.
"Also, I have done this before. You don't remember that Dodge truck? There was a hard part to reach in his engine and I poked him too. There is nothing to worry about. No aliens, no problems."
      "Oh, yeah...Was that two or three months ago?" Chug asked.
      "Two, because that was before Dusty's last race," Dottie replied.
"Right."
"Hey, before you go and get more of those, could you check how many brake discs we have on the bottom of the left end of the shelf?" Dottie questioned.
"Of course!"
Chug took off to the front of the workshop, rolling alongside the shelf as he searched for said items.
      "I hate when I can't remember if I recently bought new supplies or not..." Dottie murmured, closing the compartment she had opened.
      Dusty chuckled.
      "I understand."
      "So, everything's good in there, I just need to see one more area..."
      "Okay."
      "Hey, there's eight left!" Chug called.
      "Okay, great! Thanks!" Dottie shouted back.
"No problemo!" Chug exclaimed, making his way out of the Fill N' Fly.
      "Remember all the times me and Chug would train together? And you got mad once and told us I would crash into an orphanage?" Dusty asked, grinning at the memory.
"Oh yes..." Dottie chuckled.
"That was...Quite a while ago, now, wasn't it?" Dusty mumbled thoughtfully.
"I think it was around five years ago."
"You're right...!" Dusty breathed, slightly shocked as he thought about how quickly time had flown.
"I know, crazy," Dottie empathized.
"I'm glad nothing has changed all that much-At least, I think nothing has really changed," Dusty stated in thought.
"Yup...Well, you're all ready to go. Just really take it easy for a few days, okay?" Dottie instructed, closing up his engine.
"I will.Thanks a lot," Dusty smiled.
"You're welcome, Dusty."
Dottie returned the smile, setting her tools down on the counter.
"See you later!" Dusty called to her as he rolled out of the Fill N' Fly.

——————————————————————

Dusty stared out the window of his hangar, having decided to settle home early. He was exhausted from the constant activity, and needed to rest as Dottie told him to.
"This is Maru at the Piston Peak Air Attack Base. Dusty, ya there?"
Dusty remained in place for a few moments, surprised, before rolling over to the radio.
      "Yeah, I'm here! What's up?"
"Ay! Good to hear your voice again. How are ya?"
      "I'm doing great, thanks! What about you? How's Blade and the rest of the team?"
      "I'm doin' pretty great too. Blade and the team have been working hard as usual but they're all still in good spirits."
       "I'm glad to hear!"
"How's everyone at Propwash?"
      "They've all been pretty good! Chug and Dottie have been running the Fill N' Fly like usual, and I've still been training with Skipper every now and then."
"Ah. Say, you busy this month? We could really use some extra wings here. The fires have gotten real harsh on us lately."
      "I am, but if you need my help I'll be there as soon as I can!"
      "That would be highly appreciated. It would be great to see ya again, too."
      "I could fly over this weekend! How does that sound?"
"Sounds perfect."
      "Alright. I'll see you soon!"
      "Take care, Dusty."
      "Thanks, you too!"
It'll be nice to see all of them again.. I hope the team hasn't changed too much.
      Dusty glanced at the clock, which read 6:30.
      It'll be like old times..

(Hope this sounded good so far for a first chapter! I had to make some major edits from the first version lol. Also, I'm surprised and so so so happy people are sticking around and still searching for Planes fanfiction. I thought I was the only one left who was still a Planes fanatic haha. I hope y'all stick around for the rest of this and I will continue to make more Planes fanfiction and probably some cars because I wanna keep it alive! Have a great day or night, y'all!)