After the Wings around the Globe…

Ripslinger felt horrible, he for once felt guilty… and mad. Ned and Zed looked at him with questions in their eyes. There was something wrong, they sensed it. "Um, sir… uhh…" Ned started.

Zed rolled his eyes, "Quiet, Ned. So… what do we do now, sir?"

Ripslinger didn't know. If he had any real friends, he would ask them. Ripslinger, in a way, looked up to Dusty. Dusty was a great flyer and won his races fair and square. I he could, Rip would have made things different. He looked at the two loyal racers next to him. They would follow him through anything for attention. It meant he had to tolerate their arguing and Ned's obliviousness. He would answer them straight, "I don't know."

"Hey," Zed said, "Maybe we could take out the old Corsair… I mean, not murder him, just… you know… Wouldn't that be great?"

Ripslinger felt ready to knock the twins' wings off. "No. Why would we? That winged tractor is gone for now." Rip felt guilty again. Where was this new feeling coming from?

Just then Dusty rolled into the hanger looking rather smug. "No insults? I guess I'm not that much of a farm boy anymore." Ripslinger began to back out of the hanger. Dusty's smug smile turned into a surprised face. "Wait! Ripslinger! I wanted to talk to you!"

Ripslinger took off as soon as his tires touched the runway; he only wanted to get away from the orange crop duster. "C'mon Rip! Slow down!"

Ripslinger saw that the modified plane was catching up. "Please, leave me alone!" Rip called over his wing. He was afraid that Dusty was going to do to him what he would have done to Dusty. Dusty then shot in front of him, forcing him to bank. Dusty began to herd him back onto the runway. Ripslinger's tires chirped as they hit the tar. Dusty turned to face him.

"Why were you running?" Dusty panted.

Ripslinger wanted to disappear, "Haven't you done enough? Thanks to you I'm probably the most ridicules racer in the world right now."

"I wanted to say sorry for making you crash… I know that I should be mad at you. It's just, I feel bad for you."

"Bad for me why?" Rip asked.

Dusty hesitated, "I'm not sure. I just don't know. Can we put my foolishness behind us? Do you forgive me?"

Ripslinger sighed, "I guess, but I'm the one who should be sorry. I hurt you and your friend… I shouldn't have done that."

Dusty's eyes grew soft, "I forgive you."

Ripslinger sighed, "So, maybe we can be friends?"

"Why wouldn't we be? But what about your two leeches?"

"You mean Ned and Zed," Ripslinger said, "They can change, at least I think…"

Dusty looked Rip straight in the eye, "I'm not one for harsh words but I think you'll have to let them go."

Ripslinger was hesitant, not quite ready to let his old "friends" go. "Okay," he said, "I guess I can part with them."

"Don't completely ignore them," Dusty warned, "You don't want them to think of you as a traitor. Try to be kind to them, only time will tell if they can change."

Ripslinger let Dusty leave and smiled, "I finally have a real friend…"