Top Wing - A New Addition

10 - Changing Your Altitude

Summary — Speedy thinks it's time that Tara is ready for her Mountain Wing, but Tara is hesitant about whether her mountain driving skills are adequate. When a mountain hike goes wrong, Tara has to change her mindset.

'Hello cadets!' Speedy chuckled as the cadets filed into the room, short of breath from racing to headquarters. 'Are you ready for your training?'
'Yes Speedy!' The cadets agreed in unison.
'Great! Tara, I'll be taking you separately to the Virtual Reality Simulator to work more on driving your vehicle so you can try out the real thing in no time!' Speedy explained. 'And the rest of you will be supervised by Bea for your training. Locations will be sent to you as for where you will conduct your training.'

'Yes Speedy!' The cadets said in unison.

'Hope everything goes well with your training!' Swift said to Tara. 'I'm sure that you'll start driving your vehicle in no time!'

'Thanks Swift! We can talk later, but I think you better go along now,' reminded Tara, gesturing to the lifts, 'you wouldn't want to miss your training.'

'Oh, right! Well, see you when we get back!' Swift flew off to his lift.

'Alright Tara! Are you ready for your training?' Speedy inquired, having turned from Bea, who was now monitoring the screen that featured Brody in his vehicle already out at sea.

'Yup ...!'
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Keeping her foot steady on the pedal, Tara manoeuvred the Mountain Wing through a forest of various pine trees amidst a stormy sky, the leaves rustled wildly in the strong winds. Unlike what she had previously thought, driving was not at all that tricky.

Steering the wheel, Tara turned left and braked in front of a blocked cave within a mountain, where a pinpoint that was floating dissolved into thin air.

'Okay Tara,' echoed Speedy's voice, 'now, I'd like you to try and attempt to lift up this boulder using the snow plow!'
'Alright Speedy!' Tara replied, reaching to press a button.

A snow plow extended out from the front of the Mountain Wing, and Tara looked to view the screen on her dashboard, where she could view the boulder her camera enabled her to see.

Driving the vehicle forward, Tara pulled a lever back as the snow plow lowered and lodged itself underneath the boulder. Then, she pushed the lever forward, and the plow lifted up the boulder as she slowly started backing the Mountain Wing.

'End Top Wing cadet simulation,' said Speedy. 'Great job Tara! Your performance has improved from last time,' commended Speedy.

Tara beamed as she took off her helmet. 'Thank you! It's great to hear that I am.'

'I have full confidence in this decision, you're ready to drive the Mountain Wing now! And the real life version, that is,' added Speedy.

'Really?' Tara asked.

'Yup!' Speedy smiled. 'You'll be able to earn your badges involving the Mountain Wing as a result! We'll practice earning certain badges here, such as different trick shots that may help you later as you start attending to rescue missions, and then we'll move to real life!'
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'Hey Bea! How are the cadets' training going?' Speedy questioned as he and Tara walked into the control room.

'Great! They're certainly coming along!' Bea replied. Tara looked behind her at the screen, which displayed Swift looping through large red balloons floating in the air, being kept in place with a weight.

Who put the balloons there? She wondered.

'That's excellent to hear!' Speedy smiled. 'Speaking of progress, how is the condition of Tara's vehicle? I came to the conclusion that she can start driving!'