In the dark musky corner of the hangar, Dusty layed, a small heap of cold metal, basking under the light of a single heat lamp. A puddle, a large one at that, had formed underneath his wheels from the melting ice that had formed over his propeller. It had been an absolute miracle that his engine hadn't felt the full effects of the frigid water. A single drop from that subzero liquid, and he wouldn't have been able to seen the light of the outside world for days, being stuck in the mechanics'. Then, BYE BYE Artic Wings Around the Globe. An absolute tragedy, it would have been.

Well, to him, to say the least.

But he didn't have time to think about that right now. Granted, nobody could think about something specifically when they were asleep. A light tarp was draped sloppily over his wings and back half, a feeble attempt to bring some warmth to his sensitive metal. It wasn't the best choice for warmth, however; the cool plastic brought no satisfaction to his still-frigid wings and if anything, only brought more of the icy sensation. Granted, it might have had something to do with the fact that Roper had thrown the tarp on upside down, and the softer side was currently on the outside, not helping what so ever with the goal to bring warmth and heat up Dusty's wings, but no one had noticed it, and it was too late now.

It was too late to bring back the entire day he had missed. This incident of his with the lake happened in the early hours of the morning. Turns out it had been worse than he had thought; the cold icy water had numbed his metal so he couldn't feel the pain. But the second a blast of warm light covered his metal, the pain came back. It had been BAD; a searing sensation that left his metal crawling, itching, absolutely uncomfortable. Had he taken it well; he'd like to think so. But I think we ALL know the truth. It had been a rough day, stuck inside with a mechanic, heating him up and repairing his dented prop and nose, while receiving a what-seemed-like hours long Dottie-style lecture about obeying the signs that he STILL hadn't seen but were apparently planted to keep planes off the ice. He was stuck inside while the rest of his friends and racing compatriots explored the country. A total waste of a perfect day. Well, at least he still had tomorrow.

Now, had any plane rolled into the hangar during this time, they would've had no choice but to burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. The scene that would've layed before one would have looked so similar to a farfetched one in a cartoon; only difference was, this was real life.

Dusty layed asleep, his mouth drooped open slightly, with the straw or a can of oil sticking halfway in. Light snores escaped his open mouth, and with every inhale, it was like he was taking another sip of the oil. A very effective way of consumption this would have been, were it not for the fact that the can was empty, set for about half an inch of oil at the bottom that wasn't able to be inhaled, since the breaths were so shallow.

It was evident that Dusty had fallen asleep unintentionally. The gym lights that hung from the ceiling still gave off their dim glow, hazy and attracting small car bugs, which bounced off the hot surface, but still continued banging their small heads against the glass. The radio in the corner buzzed statically, the faint sound of a car speaking a foreign unrecognizable language obscured by the noisy feedback. A single window was open a crack, snowflakes gently floating in, turning into drops and joining up with a growing puddle on the wooded heated floor.

"Bzzz, BZZZ, D-Du—dus—." The radio crackled, before falling silent. It went completely unnoticed, announcing whatever it had to say to the ghosts in the hangar. The room fell completely dead, the only sounds echoing in the large room the light snores coming from Dusty. Well, they weren't really snores, more, sleeping noises.

BANG BANG BANG!!

A loud noise echoed through the room, slicing through the silence like a heated knife through butter. Dusty jumped at the noise, still half asleep, and unintentionally rolled backwards, bumping into a stack of oil cans and knocking them over. The sudden gasp had caused him to inhale the remaining oil in the can he had been drinking, and it went down the wrong way. He coughed harshly, the black liquid spittling everywhere. The noise repeated itself. Fluttering and squeezing his eyes to get them accustomed to the bright light, he slowly rolled over to the door. His eyes hadn't quite gotten used to the lights above, his eyesight riddled with colored specks and dots that grew and shrank, faded and returned, spun and swirled. Continuing his coughing, but in a lighter sense now, Dusty slid his wheel into the door handle and slid it open. A very annoyed Roper was waiting outside, shivering against the wind.

"O-oh, hey Roper, what's up?" Dusty was finally able to adjust his eyes, and his frame decided to take a break from the coughing. He was silently shocked to see Roper out at this time of the night, especially in the cold. As far as he was concerned, this was one forklift who hated the cold weather.

"You will be, in a second." Roper narrowed his eyes at Dusty's confused gaze. "Did you not hear the radio?!"

"The radio? Uh, no." Dusty glanced at the forklift, lost, dazed, and mostly tired. "What's going on?"

"Huge storm, coming in hot. Well, cold. We gotta fly you and the others out tonight. More specifically, RIGHT NOW. The other's are just about to leave. You're lucky SOMEBODY remembered about you, or you'd been stuck in this frozen wasteland for about a week."

Now Dusty was wide awake.

"Wait, really? Who was it?" Roper began guiding the small airplane out into the darkened night. Small red and blue lights lined the pathway that led to the runway. Dusty could just barely see the faint lights and outlines of the rest of the racers.

"I dunno, don't care. All I know is you better start your engine, because it's gonna be a long night for y'all. Hehe, not for me. As long as I have my jet, my heater, and my motorjitos, I don't need to care about anything else, nor will I care for anything else.