It's been a while, everyone...
The reason I keep taking a break without releasing chapters like this is that I've lost interest in writing novels due to depression and stress lately, so I haven't published them for a while.😔
But I'll do my best until I finish this novel. I will do my best. So I hope everyone understands.🙂
- (AM 5:00)Hill -
In 5:00 AM. Dusty is flying to train Skipper. Sparky hums next to Skipper, Chug and Kevin are next to them.
"Sparky, binoculars." Skipper ordered.
Sparky blows on the binoculars and gives them to Skipper, who fixes the binoculars with his wings.
"Those are some might clean optics, there." Chug commented. "What do you use? Some kind of shammy?"
"Oh, no, no, it's a special microfiber cloth." Sparky explains.
"Ah." Chug thought. "Microfiber."
"Is it different from that?" Kevin asks.
"Yeah, lint-free, scratch-free." Sparky explains. "I'll get you some."
"Really?" Chug is curious.
"I got an ex-Navy buddy who sells them to me wholesale." Sparky talks.
"Cool." Kevin is also curious.
"I helped him set up his web-"
"Knock it up." Skipper gives the order, and they stand at attention like soldiers. "We got a lot of work to do."
"I'll hook you up." Sparky whispers to Chug.
"Thanks." Chug talks.
"All right, Dusty, remember this." Skipper instructs while looking at Dusty through binoculars. "It ain't how fast you fly,"
- On the field -
"(Radio) It's how you fly fast." Skipper said,
"Roger that." Dusty nodded.
"(Radio) show me what you got." As Skipper talks, Dusty picks up the pace. "Let's go! Dusty!" Kevin cheers him on.
- Dormitory -
Meanwhile, Robin wakes up and goes outside to stretch.
"It's still the same morning." Robin mutters.
And he sees Dusty flying, and he says, "Don't push yourself too hard, Dusty." Robin talks to himself. But then suddenly he puts his hand to his chin,
~~ Flashback ~~
"Are you familiar with the racin' fuel additive, nitromethane?" Roper asks.
"Oh, yeah! Zip juice!" Chug knows what it is. "Go-go punch! That stuff will blur your vision and slur your speech-"
"It's illegal." Roper makes the point.
"Totally illegal. Wouldn't know what it looks like. Yeah, you were sayin' ?" Chug agrees and attempts to cover his knowledge.
"What about that?" Robin asks.
"The substance was found in the tank of the 5th place qualifier, Fonzarelli. Illegal fuel intake is an automatic DQ." Roper talks while looking at the clipboard.
~~ Present ~~
He thinks about the situation then.
"(Even though it was just a coincidence, the timing was perfect...)" Robin thinks. "(Besides, someone who found out that a person who passed such a preliminary round used illegal fuel could have found out...)"
and,
"That actually."
Suddenly someone spoke, and Robin turned around.
Centh is standing right behind him. Then Robin is startled and falls down.
"Whoops! Sorry..." Centh smiles and apologizes to him.
"You... that night..." Robin thinks as he looks at him.
"Centh. C, E, N, T, H. Don't forget." Centh again introduces himself in a friendly or warning manner.
- On the field -
"Watch this! Oh yeah!" Dusty went up and down through the trees.
"(Radio) Great, you can go up and down. What else?" But Skipper doesn't sound very impressed. "Show me your turns."
"Here we go!" Dusty curves by twisting his body to the left. "(Radio)You that was good? That stunk!" Skipper criticized. "(Radio) Knife-edge elm trees." Dusty twisted his body to get through the trees, but he was slightly brushed. "(Radio) Oh, come on. Keep your nose up!"
"Hey, Skip." Then, Sparky speaks. Skipper sees Sparky pointing upward. "Good idea, Spark." Kevin likes it.
"You want speed, right?" Skipper asks Dusty
"Yeah." Dusty answered.
"Serious, bolt-rattling speed?" Skipper asks again.
"Oh, yeah!" Dusty starts to get excited.
"Then look up." When Skipper gave instructions,
Dusty looks at the sky.
"(Radio) Do you see clouds?
The in the sky.
Tailwinds like nothing you've ever flown.
What are you for?
Come on, power up. Firewall thrust."
Dusty ascends to the sky. Almost reaching the clouds, Dusty continues to fidget and take deep breaths as he is above the sky, when he looks down and gasps, as his eyes look as if the ground is moving further and further away, and the clouds are being sucked in like a whirlpool. He panicked and was breathing heavily,
He then faints and slowly falls to the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Skipper wondered, "Why is he coming down?" Kevin is also puzzled. And they follow Dusty.
- Dormitory -
Meanwhile, in the dormitory...
"Why are you here again? And What do you mean 'that actually'?" Robin asks him.
"You said it earlier. In your opinion," Centh replied.
"What...?" Robin is taken aback by his answer, and he thinks, "Wait... are you... are you reading my mind?!"
"Whoahoho!" Centh finds him interesting. "What a little detective." And he waggled his eyebrows.
"Welp, your guess is right. I can read your or other's minds. This is my power." Centh tapped Robin's forehead with his finger and said, "Hey!" Robin must have been startled and waved his arm to remove his finger.
"Don't worry. Even if you try things like hypnosis or brainwashing, it's not fun." Centh speaks with a smile. "Especially... someone like you." Then he lifts Robin's chin with his finger, and Robin makes a very cringe-worthy, offended expression.
"Anyway... What you thought is exactly right." Centh talks. "Ex 5th place qualifier used illegal fuel."
"Wait. So you..." Robin noticed.
"I told them. Directly." Centh answers.
~~ Flashback ~~
At that time, before the preliminaries were over, Centh walked around the tents of the preliminaries. And when he sees Fonzarelli's tent, he slowly approaches his tent. And when Fonzarelli was away, he entered his tent by sneaking behind it. And he examines the items in the tent, and suddenly smiles,
"bingo." Centh found fuel, and he smiled.
~"And I reported it to the officials."~
Then, he carefully leaves the tent with fuel.
~~ Present ~~
"That's why it's all thanks to me that he passed the preliminaries. Be thankful to me." Centh speaks with a smile.
"Well... of course, it was wrong for him to use illegal fuel. But, why are you so nice to us? I thought you were a Deus' minion." Robin asks.
"Look, little orange." Centh approaches Robin slowly, and Robin steps back when he comes suddenly. "I don't do anything cowardly like Master. I'm a fair man. No matter how much I do something cowardly like that, it's not fun. And my conscience is a little... so..." He smiled in a creepy, easygoing way, Robin got horrifying into him.
"But, don't you think there's something strange?" Centh asked, "What...?" Robin asked again.
"Your sister..." Centh responded,
"Wh... L, Lena...?" Robin is embarrassed.
at that time,
When Lena comes out yawning, Robin turns around and Centh looks at her closely.
"Huh? What were you doing here?" Lena asks.
"Oh, I talked to this guy." Robin answered.
"Who?" Lena asks.
"Well, there-" Robin looks in his direction,
But then he disappeared!
"What are you talking about...? You were alone." As Lena talks, Robin is confused.
"(Centh... He's such an unknown guy...)" Robin thinks in confusion.
And...
Centh was hiding in the back of the building.
"Don't worry, little orange. I'll tell you slowly soon, so... get ready your mind..." Then he smiles suspiciously and snorts.
- Runway -
Meanwhile, Dusty lands, his heart pounding, and exhaling harshly.
"What just happened up there?" When Skipper asks, "I'm... I'm low on fuel..." Dusty answers awkwardly.
Then Skipper, "Do I look like I was built yesterday?" When he told Dusty that he underestimated himself, "No, no! It's a long story..." Dusty responded timidly.
"I got time." Skipper said,
"Uh..." Dusty embarrassed. "Okay, well, um, you know, I feel like I was having some problems with my axial compressor so-"
"The Jolly Wrenches have a motto, Volo Pro Veritas. It means 'I fly truth.'" Skipper explains, "Really?" Kevin looks interested.
"Clearly, you don't." When Skipper points this out to Dusty, Dusty looks confused.
"Sparky, push me back the hangar." When Skipper gave instructions, Sparky turned around and was about to leave.
"I... I'm afraid of heights!" As Dusty confided, then he stopped and widened his eyes. Then he turns to Dusty.
"You afraid of... heights?" Kevin is puzzled. "But... you're a plane." Chug is also puzzled.
"I'm a crop duster. I've never flown over a thousand feet." As Dusty explained,
"Are you kidding?" Skipper is dumbfounded. "Scared of heights and you want to race around the world?"
"Uh... Skip, during the attack of Tujunga Harbor, why, even the P-38s had trouble at high altitudes." Sparky says, "Well, they didn't have to fly over the Himalayas, did they?" Skipper points out to Dusty, "I'll still be low to the ground, just high up." Dusty speaks in confusion.
"Um, you know, sir. I think he could fly in low, then possibly, he winnin' the race." Kevin tells Skipper, "And after the war, those 38s went on to win races." Sparky talks to the beat.
"Really?! Is that true?!" Chug is excited.
"Yeah, true. Like in the Cleveland race of '46." Let Sparky talk,
"For real?" Chug and,
"It does?" Kevin asks.
"Whoawhoawhoa wait, it gets better. In '49, the P-38 Sky Ranger averaged 337 miles per hour." Sparky said,
"Wait," Chug said,
"(Gasps)" Kevin got gasped,
"337?!" They talk interestingly at the same time.
"Well, actually 337.4, but they round it down in the record books." Sparky said,
"Whaaat?" Kevin wonders,
"Why would you do that?" Chug asks,
"Some people just have no respect for decimal points." Sparky answered,
"Heh, classic no points." Kevin elbows Chug and says,
"Yeah, I know. Tell us about it." Chug confronts him.
"Why couldn't they round it up?" Let Sparky ask,
Kevin: Well, I guess-
Chug: Seriously, he-
"All right! All right!" Skipper interrupts their conversation and yells. And he looks at Dusty, "So... you're a flat-hatter. We'll work on that." Skipper understands him. "But, for now let's see if we can turn low and sloppy into low and fast." Skipper instructed Dusty as if he was getting ready.
"Roger that." Dusty nods. Then Kevin gives Dusty a funny expression and gives him a thumbs up. Like... >:3👍
After a while...
- Skipper's Hangar -
Skipper begins training Dusty on how to increase his speed by flying low. And he shows a canvas as an example.
"It'll go like this." Skipper said, Sparky turned over a piece of paper on the canvas.
"The flag marks the start line." Skipper begins to explain.
"Across the cornfield, three silos are waiting for you. Slalom those with a radial-G pass."
"Wait. "A radial" what pass?-" Dusty asked,
"Once you get to the trees, go to your optimal rate of climb to about 500 feet. Roll inverted and extend," Skipper keeps saying.
"trading altitude for airspeed, and dive toward the finish line."
"Uh, okay." Dusty nods. And Skipper continues explaining. "You string all that together, you might have a chance to beat him."
"Who am I racing?" Dusty wonders.
- Outside -
Skipper looks at the sky through binoculars and says, "Here he comes." At that moment, a large white airplane was flying high and passing over the cornfield. "Uh... What's... that...?" Kevin talks by making his hands look like binoculars and focusing his eyes. Also, Robin joined them. "He's a twin commuter pushing about 1500 horsepower." Skipper answers.
"(Radio)Uh, he's pretty high up." Dusty radios, "You're not racing him, you're racing his shadow." Skipper explained.
"Beat it to the water tower." As Skipper gives instructions, Dusty picks up the pace.
"(Radio)Let's do this! Thread the silos!" Dusty heads towards the silo. "(Radio)Tighter! Lean into your turns more!" And he used the radial-G skill. but...
"His turns are terrible." Skipper pointed him out, "Yeah..." Sparky responded, "No kiddin'." Robin makes an uncomfortable expression and smhs.
"(Radio)Let's go, Dusty. Faster!" Skipper gives instructions again. "You're falling behind!"
"(Radio)Begin your climb and catch him in the dive!" Then Dusty gets high. "Start your dive!- "
But...
The plane's shadow has already passed the finish line...
"Never mind, you already lost." Skipper spoke in a disappointed voice, and Dusty groaned in frustration.
- Skipper's Hangar -
Before this, Dottie must have thought of an idea, so she prepared a canvas with Lena and explained it.
"So, we can increase power," and "Improve airspeed," written on the canvas, Lena points at the writing with a pointer, and she takes away a paper's page.
"Or we can decrease drag." The paper with Dusty's drawing is shown, and Dottie explains, and Lena uses a pointer stick to draw a circle around the spray gun in Dusty's drawing. "So, we decide..." Lena tears off Dusty's spray gun. Tear off the paper on the sprayer part as if you were pulling it out. "This!" Lena answers calmly,
Then Dusty gasped,
"What do you think?" Lena asks Dusty, and Dusty looks at his sprayer in embarrassment,
"Definitely increase power!"
Inside Dottie's workshop, she modifies the engine inside him with tools, increasing his torque. "More torque means more speed." She talks even while working.
Then, Lena looks at them curiously at the door, and Robin just happens to be looking at her suspiciously from a little distance away.
~~Flashback ~~
"But, don't you think there's something strange?" Centh asked, "What...?" Robin asks.
"Your sister..." Centh responded,
~~~~
"(What on earth is he talking about...?)" Robin rests his chin on his hand and solves the puzzle by himself.
- On the field -
Soon after, Dusty crosses the finish line at an even faster pace, with Chug calculating his speed with a speed gun to be a whopping 215 mph.
Sparky and Kevin look at the numbers on the speed gun and think. Sparky looks like he's lacking something, and Kevin looks curious, "Lousy." When Skipper criticized, they looked at him.
"(Radio)Come on, let's work that radial-G turn!" As Skipper gives instructions, Dusty leans forward and past the silos.
"(Radio)Do it again." Continue passing the silo until night falls,
"One more time. AGAIN!" And again.
A while later, on a rainy day...
"(Radio)Come on! Push it, Dusty!"
Dusty was very close to the shadow, but the shadow passed the finish line first, but he was still very close. "Better!"
"Aw, close one!" Kevin feels regretful.
- Skipper's Hangar -
"Remember now." Skipper coached to Dusty.
"Altitude for airspeed."
"Gravity is your ally."
"The laws of physics govern speed."
Dusty learns Skipper's advice, teachings, and talking points.
And...
- On the field -
"All right, Dusty. Give this run all you've got!" Skipper gives instructions, and Dusty speeds up with a determined look on his face.
"(Radio)Use your radial-G. Let gravity work for you." Dusty passes the silos by moving left and leaning right, this time faster, more agile, and smoother than last time!
"(Radio)Looking good. That's what I'm talking about."
"Firewall the throttle! Go! GO! GO! " Dusty goes full speed!
"You got it, Duster!" Chug,
"You can do it, Dus!" And Kevin also supports him.
Dusty passed between two trees at a very high speed, causing the tractors to fall backward as if they were startled.
"(Radio)Begin your climb!" Dusty goes higher into the sky and passes by the trees.
"(Radio)All right, altitude for airspeed. Catch him in the dive!" Skipper gives instructions,
"Dive now!" When he gives the signal, Dusty flips his body 180°, and glides. Then flips his body again and flies.
And Dusty gets closer to the shadow...
He finally overtook the shadow and passed the finish line! Plus, the speed gun has 317 mph!
"BAAALLISTIC!" Chug is very excited, and Dusty is very happy and smiles.
"THAT'S MY BUUUDDDYYY!!! YEEAAAHHHH!!!" Kevin was so excited that Robin, who was next to him, put his arms around his neck. "Agh! Ke-vin...! Bwegh...!" And Robin... cries in pain voice like some duck character...
(Writer: Poor Robin...😅)
"He kicked Aston Martins out there!" Sparky is very impressed.
"Dusterino!" Chug,
"Oh yeah!" And Kevin is still excited. Of course... he's still strangling Robin. (Writer: 😅)
"He's ready..." Skipper speaks for himself.
- Skipper's Hangar -
Finally, after training, at Skipper's, Sparky took a stencil, a black spray, and sprayed the underside of Dusty's left engine cover. When the stencil was put away, there was a picture of The piston and cross-wrenches.
Dusty: Whoa!
Chug: Oh that's cool.
Kevin: Wow!
The three men looked at the picture and commented that it was very cool.
"The piston and cross-wrenches." Dusty talks like this picture knows. "Your squadron insignia."
"You've earned it." Skipper said.
"It fits you." Chug compliments, "It fits you, Dusty." And he sniffed.
"It suits you, Dus." Also, Kevin compliments him.
"Now listen." Skipper said. "When the race starts and all those planes take off, it'll stir up a bunch of swirlies. Just like the Wrenches ran into in the Battle of Airway."
"Roger that." Dusty nods. "Sure wish you were coming with me, Skip." Dusty asks.
"Just radio back when you get to the check points." Skipper replied. "I'll be your wingman from here."
" Volo Pro Veritas , right?" Dusty asked. " Volo Pro Veritas. " Skipper replied.
"Alright, guys! Let's get ready now!" Kevin asks his younger brother and sister.
"Eeeeh! Sounds like fun!" Lena is so excited that she hops around like a rabbit and claps her hands.
But Robin is blankly thinking about something.
"Robin...? ROBIN!" Kevin yells, "Agh! Wha-what!?" Robin was surprised, he looking at his brother. "C'mon, what are you doing? How many times do I have to tell you that we have to get ready now?" Kevin asks again.
"Huh? Oh, oh yeah, right." Robin was shocked for a moment, but came to his senses.
"Kick some tail, buddy." Chug cheers him on.
"We're all proud of you." Dottie is proud of him.
"Whoo-hoo! Dustmeister!" Sparky was excited.
Meanwhile, outside the hangar door, Centh leisurely eavesdrops on them while leaning against the wall of the building.
"Hmph. You can't go without knowing the big secret about the race. I should go to the race too." And he smiles slyly...
The story continues to get more and more interesting! What will happen to Dusty and his human friends...?
To be continued...