Cars, Planes, and Changelings

Changeling Down!

Chrys was woken up by Patch on the speakers, so she rushed out of her hanger as she put her gear on. She stopped by Maru for extra supplies as she rushed to get in Blade's cabin as he took off. 

The helicopter hovered in front of Dusty's hanger for a second. "Champ! Let's load and go!" 

Blade then flew off and Chrys had noticed something off about the trainee. She didn't mention anything as this was an emergency. 

As the team flew Blade gave the orders. "Fire broke containment and split in two! Windlifter, you and Dipper take the coil fire! Me, the seat, and Chrys will take White Wall Rapids!" 

"Windlifter copies!" With that the teams split up to take care of the fires. 

When they got over the ridge and saw the fire was near the lodge, Chrys called Maru on her collar. "Maru, come in!" 

"Yeah!" 

"It's worse than we thought! Get in contact with the lodge! The fire is four hours from them! They're going to have to evacuate!" 

Blade went into leader mode as Chrys huffed as she thought about how Maru was doing. "If we're gonna save the lodge, we've got to keep this fire from Preston Ridge! I'll drop then you tag on and extend and make it a split load!" 

Chrys was lowered to the ground from Blade's rescue hook. "Scorpion, see if there's campers or wildlife! Get them out if there are!" 

"Copy that, Blade!" The changeling ran as fast as she could, putting on her mask as she made sure the area of the fire was clear of everyone. Good news is no one was there. 

"Scorpion! I've got a situation!" Blade sounded on her radio; she was trying to find the two. "I'm on my way! Just hold on!"

Chrys got to Blade and Dusty, climbing on a fallen log to free Blade's hook since it was caught. Dusty started to go downstream, and Blade was giving him instructions to redline a takeoff before the plane reached the falls. 

But Dusty didn't listen, and he nearly went over the fall if not for Blade catching him. 

The changeling hissed as she glared at Dusty from her spot in Blade's cabin. 

Blade got Dusty safely on the ground and started to scold Dusty. "Why didn't you redline it?! Why didn't you listen to me?!" 

Chrys looked over to the blaze as she saw embers blow over to them. "Blade!" 

The helicopter looked over to and went higher to see the flames getting closer. "Chrys, guide Dusty down that path and follow me!" 

The rogue listened and jumped down as she then led Dusty down a path as she kept close to Blade's shadow. "Keep close to me, rookie!" 

They came upon an old mine shaft and Blade landed. "In here!" 

"An old mine?! We can't go in there! We'll suffocate!" Dusty was scared of dying inside the shaft. 

Chrys turned to Dusty. "It's our only chance! We'll let it burn over!" 

The plane still didn't listen. "No! NO! You two go on! I'll keep moving!" 

The changeling cut him off as Dusty tried to roll away. "You can't outrun the blaze!" 

"I'll find my way out!" 

"Like how you found your way out of the rapids?!" Blade started yelling too. 

"I didn't want to push my engine!" 

Chrys snarled and stalked closer to Dusty. "This isn't about you! People's lives are at stake! Blade gave you orders, and you didn't listen! You don't get what it takes!" 

"Fine! I never wanted to be a firefighter anyway!" Dusty started to roll away. 

"Then go win another trophy!" Dusty sharply turned to Chrys as she glared. "I can't! My gearbox is busted, alright! That's why I pulled power! I'm ne-I'm never..." 

"Life doesn't always go the way you expect it. But you came here to become a firefighter. If you give up today, think of all the lives you won't save tomorrow." 

Dusty looked guilty as Blade spoke. "So, what are you going to do?" 

The plane then started wheeling towards the mine and Blade and Chrys followed him inside. Once inside the roof at the entrance started to cave in and flames nearly got to Dusty, but Blade got in front of him. 

But the helicopter didn't feel any pain. As he looked to where the flames would have burned him, only to see Chrys blocking the fire. "Chrys?! What are you doing?! Get behind me!" 

"No! You've protected a lot of people, Blade! This time! Someone is protecting you!"

The fire kept going, and a structure soon fell covering the three in darkness. A while later, Chrys busted the wall in front of the shaft down, freeing the three. 

Both Blade and Dusty noticed Chrys' exoskeleton was burnt and charred. "Chrys." 

"Airway Meadow should be clear. You guys can take off there." The queen limped to the meadow with the other two following. Dusty took off first, then Blade, but as Chrys was walking she fell. 

"Scorpion! Chrys! Chrys!" Dusty called in Patch as he and Blade circled above the fallen changeling. "Patch, come in! This is Crophopper 7! Chrys is down! I repeat! Chrys is Down!" 

Later, Windlifter carried Chrys to base. The first on scene was Maru. "Can he help her?" 

"Maru's the best there is. She'll be better than new." Cabbie tried to calm Dusty down. 

Maru gave Chrys a look over. "I can't do this! Chrys is the only one to know what to do for changelings!" 

Chrys trembled and stood up surprising everyone. But then she started to peel her exoskeleton off like it was a disease. And this scared everyone. 

"Chrys! What are you doing?!" After the dead exoskeleton, Chrys' eyes went completely dead. Like she was on autopilot, and she started to limp to the main hanger. "Chrys!" 

Blade followed her and watched as she climbed up to one of the corners in the ceiling. "Chrys!" 

Chrys wasn't listening as she secreted a webbing like substance from her wrists. She wrapped herself in the webbing, covering her whole body until she was completely encased in a cocoon. 

The others came in and Maru was carrying a letter. "Guys! I went to Chrys' hanger! She left this in case of emergencies. You won't believe what she wrote." 

Everyone listened as Maru read out what they were supposed to do if Chrys got injured. "She said if she starts ripping off her exoskeleton, it's normal. Changelings shed their exoskeletons if growing or severely injured." 

Dipper sighed. "Well, that's a relief." 

"Anything about that?" Blade motioned to Chrys' cocoon. 

Maru looked at the letter again. "Yeah, she did. She's going through something that was only thought legendary by her kind. The Final Transformation. No one knows what's going to happen to her when she's in there or comes out." 

"How long will it last?" Maru read further. "A few hours to a day." 

"Good."