The next morning, Braedey woke up to the slowly rising sun. He revved his engine to life, now noticing Dusty had begun to stir too. Dusty opened his eyes tiredly.
"Dusty, today's the big day. Let's go." Braedey said to him. "We have to get ready. The big race."
Braedey drove out of the tent, looking around to see that the other racers were starting to stir too. Braedey got his wings and jetpack armed and ready.
"Hey, Dusty!" A girl's voice called out, nearly making Dusty jump in surprise, Braedey also rather surprised by this. Dusty knew that voice, his eyes now widening.
There, now standing in front of him, was a female plane who looks like him. This little plane looks to be a cross of an Air Tractor AT-502, Cessna and a PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader, with a 680½ horsepower engine, one triple-blade propeller, and a wingspan 23ft (7m). She is painted pink and white, with orange stripes on her sides, her wings being purple, and she has green eyes. This aircraft goes by the name of Annie Crophopper, the little sister of Dusty.
(A/N: Annie Crophopper belongs rightfully to AnnaliseHamato14 and by request)
"Hey, big brother." Annie greeted with a smile.
"A-Annie? What are you doing here?" Dusty asked in surprise. "I thought-"
"I managed to get into the trials a few weeks back, after I've had some repairs and that." Annie gestured to her underside. "I got rid of my sprayer, as well as a few unnecessary parts to shed some weight, so I could make myself look like an air racer." She gestured to her form. "I know I look a little odd-"
"Dusty, who's this?" Braedey asked in surprise, rolling up to the two airplanes.
"Oh! Annie, this is Annie, my little sister." Dusty introduced to Braedey. "Annie, this is Braedey Martin."
Annie looked to Braedey in surprise. "Wait. You mean THE Braedey Martin? The legendary Piston Cup and latest V8 Supercar champion of Redbulldozer Racing Australia?" She asked to him.
Braedey showed a modest smile. "Yep. That be me." He looked Annie over. "So, you ready to race?" He asked.
"Of course." Annie nodded. "Plus, it be good to try and show my metal against that showboat Ripslinger."
"Braedey." The blue racecar stopped and turned around. To his surprise, there was Leyland Dane, a red 1975 Mark-1 Vauxhall Cavalier, who has green eyes. The red car smiled to Braedey as he rolled up to him.
"Hey, Leyland. The race is just about to begin." Braedey greeted to Leyland. "It's still good to see you."
"I'm gonna be up in the stands, cheering you on." Leyland said to Braedey. "Also, you might see some familiar faces out there."
"Right." Braedey nodded back, now revving his engine. "I'll see you later." He looked over to see Dusty getting ready to leave and head for the runway. "See you soon."
"Yeah. You too." Leyland acknowledged with a nod, as Braedey got ready to go. "Let's go, you two." He said to Dusty and Annie.
~*~*~
"Race fans, it's that time of year again. Welcome to the Wings Around the Globe." Brent announced to the cameras. He could be seen standing in the newsroom. "Hello, I'm Brent Mustangburger, and this is the flagship event of the world's fastest sport were only the best of the best compete. Each leg brings a new challenge, testing agility, navigation and endurance. But when it's all said and done, speed is the name of the game. Our very own Colin Cowling is standing live from JFK airport with the best seat in the house. How's the view, big guy?" He asked to his fellow host.
Colin Cowling is an Aaron Fullogas blimp. Colin has black and gray striping with red lines, and his cockpit is painted grey. He has the RSN logo on his sides.
"Brent, the scene below me is absolutely electric." Colins acknowledged back. "As you know, we have racers from all over the world, here. But the real story should be who's coming in second to three-time defending champ, Ripslinger, who is seeking to be the first four-time winner in the Wings Around The Globe. The racers are making their way to the runway."
Back at Propwash Junction, Skipper, Dottie, and Sparky were all watching the TV to see the start of the air-race.
"It's Dusty and Braedey!" Dotty exclaimed, as they now caught sight of Braedey and Dusty on the camera heading out to the runway.
"Whoo!" Sparky cheered.
"All right, everybody, get your Dusty and Braedey bobble-heads." Chug called, pulling up a cart of cool trinkets. "Your oven mitts, hats, bumper stickers, and I also ordered a thousand commemorative whistles." Sparky whistles one of them. "Hey, you think you can get me set up a website?" Chug asked Sparky.
"Does a giga bite?" Sparky asked.
"Well, not if you pet him nicely." Chug answered. Both of them laughed.
Meanwhile, Dusty and Braedey were passing by many photographers. The two of them were getting blinded by the lights of the lens bulbs flashing at them, forcing Braedey to lower his visor. He then took note of Annie and Dusty, the two of them ready for Racing.
"One-hundred and thirty-six nations compete." Brent said. Dusty and I headed toward the exit, which was very bright. "Twenty-two planes and a racecar have been selected. Folks, a step onto this field, is a step into history." As the light faded, Braedey and Dusty now saw the runway.
As soon as they reached the runway, both sides of the runway had a set of stands, all with many cars and planes cheering them on. The twenty-two planes lined up in pairs. Braedey was the only one to line up in the middle of the runway, the other planes on either side of the runway.
"Holy smokes." Dusty gasped with excitement.
"Wow..." Annie added in.
Braedey looked into the stadium to see if the town's folk had made it. He was even looking for Lightning's red paint colour, but he couldn't find them. He took a guess he was racing somewhere else, and he couldn't attend. However, he took a guess he might see him and Dusty on TV.
~*~*~
"And for the first time, folks, we have a crop duster and a racecar, by record, in the race." Colin highlighted Braedey and Dusty on the TV.
"A crop duster and racecar?" A forklift from the UK region asked in bewilderment, watching the TV from a bar.
"Well, they're gonna die." A she-forklift scoffed, who's sitting next to the first.
~*~*~
Down in Nashville, Mack was having a drink of truck oil to cool himself down after a long drive to and from the Piston Cup races. McQueen had just finished his time trial runs, the two of them tuning into the RSN.
Mack is a 1980s-era Mack Super-Liner semi cab, with a compatible trailer. His license plate is RUSTEZ3. Mack's cab is painted red, and has a grey grille with his name on it. He has chrome rims, and in addition, the wind deflector on Mack's roof actually resembles that of a trucker's cap.
Lightning is in his old Piston Cup design; he's no longer maroon red, but back in in his old red colour he used on his 2006 paintjob. On both sides, his iconic lightning bolt has been slightly modified; the silhouette of the lightning bolt painted in deeper red, the yellow lightning from the white oval, that disappeared, became bigger and now has his big "95" placed on it. Although the Doc Hudson Piston Cup logo is added to his doors, he has less sponsor stickers.
Mack now looked on the plasma-screen TV, and his eyes widened when they looked on the screen. "Hey, bucko. Look at that. Braedey's on TV." He said.
McQueen now took a look at the screen, and his eyes widened when he saw McQueen with his flightpack and alongside racing airplanes and even a crop-duster. "Whoa. I did not even expect that." He commented.
"This'll definitely be worth something to watch." Mack added in, McQueen agreeing with his transporter truck.
~*~*~
The planes soon began to get ready on the start line. As they do so, everyone was cheering for Ripslinger, some showing a sign that read 'RIPSLINGER'.
"Yeah." Ripslinger said. "You're caught in the riptide!" Braedey snorted at his behaviour.
Dusty was set beside El Chupacabra, Annie and Braedey just behind them. "Whoa." Dusty gasped. "Look at this crowd."
"Stay focused, amigo." El Chupacabra said. "Don't let anything distract you. Ay-yay!" El Chu now noticed something. Braedey looked to him. He followed his gaze at this plane testing her wings to see if they worked fine.
The aircraft's design is a combination of a LearAvia Lear Fan's fuselage, a French built Fouga Magister jet trainer's V-shaped tail, a Williams V-Jet II's cockpit windows, and a Cessna 402's wing-mounted turboprop engines. She is painted white, pink and red. Her racing number is #22.
"Who is that vision?" El Chupacabra asked. Annie snickered to herself once seeing the two plane.
"That's Rochelle, the Canadian rally champ." Dusty answered.
"So that makes sense." Braedey commented.
"She's like an eagle, sent from heaven." El Chupacabra said. "Like a sunrise after a lifetime of darkness."
"Like fresh fertiliser on a field of dying grass." Dusty commented. Braedey and Anna snickered to one another.
"This is not your thing, my friend." El Chupacabra advised to Dusty.
"Braedey, can you hear me?" Mary's voice spoke up on Braedey's headset, much to his surprise.
"Mary? Where are you?" Braedey asked in surprise.
"Just outside of JFK Airport. I've got a good view when you guys take off." Mary informed. "I'll be ready to see you when you guys go. I'll try to meet you in Germany, or even in Shanghai later on."
"I hear you." Braedey nodded.
"Also, The King, his wife, as well as a few others, they're here to see you off." Mary added in.
Braedey's spirit was raised. "Thanks so much, Mary."
"All right, racers." An announcement began, which happened to be from Judge Davis, the P-51 from the Nebraska Trials, he said to the planes. "Start your engines!"
Ripslinger started his engine, Rochelle firing up her two turboprop engines. A P-51 revved his engine to life, with Bulldog starting his two air-cooled 6-cylinder engines, Ishani revving her engine to life, El Chu doing the same with his air-cooled 9-cylinder radial engine.
Braedey smirked, his visor locked into place, as he revved his car engine, his jet turbines coming to life. The ground was shaking from the rumbling coming from all of their engines. Dusty exhaled as he revved his engine to life, ready to race. Annie gave a look to Braedey and Dusty, the two nodding to her.
"Seven legs, over 31,000 kilometres, the world's highest mountains and the deepest oceans all stand before them just waiting to be conquered by the right competitor." Brent announced over the TV. "All the preparation, it all comes down to this moment. One of these planes, and in Braedey's case, racecar, is about to fly off into the pages of sports history and become a champion."
Braedey took some deep breaths, ready to race. He could feel his engine running a little faster, no doubt from the adrenaline in his system. He was ready to go racing, and show the world what he can do. He looked over to the left, now seeing Leyland with a headset on, and he nodded in acknowledgement back to his boss.
Braedey looked to see the green flag raised, and he was ready. "Go!" The flag was dropped and all the planes immediately took off.
"And we are under way!" Brent announced on the TV.
"Ka-chow!" Braedey announced, and with screeching tyres, he sped off down the runway with the planes.
All the planes began to accelerate down the runway to takeoff speed. Braedey charged on ahead of Dusty, Annie, and El Chu, racing at speed to over 100 miles an hour, as the planes continued to speed up. Soon, they got to their takeoff speed, and they took to the skies above. Once their airborne, everyone brought in their landing gear, except for those with fixed landing gear like Dusty and Annie. Braedey just lets his wheels hang from underneath.
"Whoa! Swirlies!" Dusty gasped, getting struck by the turbulence. "Whoa! Whoa." He regained his flight balance, then remembered what Skipper told him, and decides to fly low, a few feet above the ocean.
Annie looked back as best as she can, taking note of how low her brother was flying. She took a guess that he hasn't gotten over his fear of heights. She also noted how slow he was going, and also guessed he didn't remove much weight off his form. But, she had faith in him, and she does a barrel roll to support her brother.
Braedey looked to see Annie doing a barrel roll, then looked down at Dusty below. So, he descended from his height down to where Dusty is. He looked over to him, the two winking to one another, and they shot forward out forth to the North Atlantic, flying as fast as they can to get to Iceland.
"Our first stage is whopper." Brent announced. "A dead sprint across the North Atlantic."
"That's right, Brent." Colins agreed. "This is how it works, folks. The winner of the leg today is the first to take off tomorrow."
Dusty still kept low to the water. Braedey powered along at speed, then he had an idea to help out his propeller-driven friend: he flew ahead of Dusty, and with his jet stream, Dusty was getting some extra boost of sorts.
"Stay behind me." Braedey advised to Dusty. "I'll be your compass, and we should get to Iceland a bit faster thanks to my jet stream."
"Thanks a lot, Braedey." Dusty thanked to the blue racecar.
Eventually, dark clouds covered the two completely. Braedey and Dusty got their lights on, and they were struggling to get their bearings, while flying about 50ft or so above the icy water.
Eventually, icebergs started to appear in the ocean, and it got cold. Braedey was fortunate that his antifreeze was topped up and he had his visor to keep him warm and to see. Then, the fog started to pick up, as did the snow, but it was actually hail, both Braedey and Dusty getting hit by them.
'This is going to be a long flight for the two of us.' Braedey thought to himself, grunting to himself as he struggled from the hail.
~*~*~
Eventually, Dusty and Braedey had made it to Iceland. The two landed on the runway, Dusty shivering badly from the ice, while Braedey shook the slush and that on his head off. The doors soon opened up to the terminal/hangar, everyone looking over at the two.
Annie rolled up to them. "Dusty, are you alright?" She asked in concern.
"He's been better." Braedey took a guess, rolling up alongside the two.
"Well, good thing I'm here." Braedey turned to his left, and to his surprise, there rolled in Annalise. "I'd better check on you two to get safe."
Annalise Maria Hudson is the daughter of Doc Hudson. She is a high-speed, aerodynamic, streamline supercar in pink and purple with Japanese markings and writing across the rear fenders and front bumper, and a spoiler is on her back. She has brown eyes and pink lips.
Annalise likes to hang out with the folks around Radiator Springs, plus she enjoys racing like Doc, but she dislikes being lectured, getting in trouble, and/or messing up in front of Doc. She liked helping Doc up in the clinic, tractor-tipping with Mater, and hanging out with McQueen. She was saddened by Doc's death, but she was taught to be strong and be ready for anything.
(A/N: Annalise Maria Hudson belongs to AnnaliseHamato14)
"Did Mary send you ahead?" Braedey asked in surprise.
"Yeah. She figured you and your friend could use some help." Annalise said to Braedey.
"Hey, look who's finally here!" Zed announced. "It's that low-flying farmer boy and racecar!"
"Shut up, Zed." Braedey growled, his visor lifting to reveal his angry scowl. "Or I'm gonna bust you up so badly, they'll have to turn you into a tractor." He threatened, Zed backing up.
"You do know this is a race, right?" Ripslinger asked, and both Ned and Zed laughed at Ripslinger's comment.
Dusty went to his part of the hangar, Annie and Annalise following him. Braedey spat at Ripslinger, kicking up some ashes from the fire in front of him, the grey plane and his cronies cringing from the ashes, as Braedey drove after Dusty and the others.
El Chupacabra roll up to Rochelle. "Excuse me, how much does a snow plow weigh?" He asked.
"Je ne sais pas." Rochelle spoke up. "I don't know."
"Enough to break the ice." El Chupacabra answered. "I am El Chupacabra."
"Ah." Rochelle realised what he's doing. "You are the snow plow, oui?"
"You could say that, yes." El Chupacabra answered.
"And I am the ice?" Rochelle urged on.
"Yes." El Chu answered, dreamily.
"Cold, frozen and lifeless?" Rochelle spat.
"No, I..." El Chu choked. "It sounds better in Spanish."
Rochelle laughed a bit. "Why don't you go plow yourself, El Chu-toy." She smacked his propeller with her wing, and she rolled away.
El Chupacabra watched after her, his propeller stopped spinning. "She is like an angel."
Meanwhile, Dusty took a sip of his oil, with a set of heater lamps around him to try and warm him up. Braedey was also having some oil, with Annalise looking at the turbines on his flightpack.
"Looks like everything is alright." Annalise informed. "You're lucky they're built to handle the cold, or they would've failed halfway here." She noted.
"Yeah." Braedey shrugged. "I kinda feel bad for leading Dusty like this."
"This is Propwash Junction to Dusty Crophopper and Braedey." Chug called over the radio.
Dusty quickly stopped taking his sip, and pressed a button with his wheel. "I read you, Chug."
"Same here." Braedey called in next.
"So what's it like racing the big dogs, Duster?" Chug asked.
"Well, my wings froze solid." Dusty answered.
"Man!" Chug muttered.
"I had icicles hanging off my sprayer." Dusty continued.
"All right!" Chug whooped.
"And we nearly smashed into a 10-story iceberg." Dusty added on.
"Awesome!" Chug muttered.
"Yeah, 'awesome' is not quite the word that I would use to describe a gruesome near-death experience." Dusty retorted.
"Same. The hail nearly cracked my visor when we were flying through it." Braedey added.
"You hang in there, buddy." Chug encouraged Dusty. "There's nothing better than dying while doing what you love most."
Dottie sighed in exasperation. "That's gonna make him feel a lot better."
"Dusty, just like when the Jolly Wrenches were up in the Aleutians the air down close to the sea has more moisture, which is why you took on ice." Skipper explained. "You gotta try to fly higher."
"Great." Dusty muttered.
"The good news is tomorrow's leg goes through the Bavarian obstacle course." Skipper reassured. "It's all about agility, so it's your chance to move up."
"That'll be good news." Braedey commented.
"Yeah. Plus, you and me, flying side-by-side, we'll definitely get that leg over and done with." Annie agreed.
Braedey looked over to Ripslinger and his two goons. The three gave a glare back at him, Braedey snarling with flames spitting from his exhaust pipes every now and then. He was going to give them what for.