[i]I am so sorry about that blunt ending to What About Now. I know I ended it quickly, but it was because two months for a story is too long for me. I just don’t have that kind of attention span. But since school is out this Friday for me, you’ll find more regular updates on here, and less rushed endings. Hopefully none. 
Okay, I’m taking a break from my Real World Series for a moment. I found out some important info about the canon characters, making pretty much all my previous fanfics false. But that’s not the reason. I have a new idea, but it goes against my series. For Lightning’s past isn’t like it was. It’s not abusive this time around! XD Well, here’s my new story, which may lead into a new series.
This takes place after the video game. Not the Maternational one though. It wouldn’t work that way. And just imagine the road trip wasn’t the whole off-season. It’s actually gonna be shorter than what you may have thought.
If you are under 13, turn away!!! There are some subtlely mature themes in this! Nothing drastic, but like a T rating on FanFiction.
Lookie below! I can name titles without using songs again like in my first story![/i]
Chapter 1: Small-Town Racer
December 16, 2006
Lightning McQueen still couldn’t believe he had won the Piston Cup a month ago. It was an amazing season for the Rust-eze team. Lightning had impressed the crowds, showing that he had grown from the self-centered jerk of a rookie to a more caring, little bit more experienced racer. He still had that cockiness that was usual of a young racer, but it’s pretty hard to mature someone to the experience of a veteran in one year. For example, Strip Weathers, aka the King, wasn’t always so down-to-Earth. He was pretty cocky his first couple of years, though knowing him now, you wouldn’t believe it. Lightning for sure wasn’t to that stage yet. But still, he had grown. Also, he had grown in skills. Working with Doc Hudson, aka, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, was one of the best moves of his career so far. For some odd reason, the two seemed to click on the racetrack unlike anyone they’d seen before. Lightning had finally found the right crew chief for him. He respected the racing legend, and knew that what Doc was saying was the best for him, even though he didn’t always agree with what he had to say. Lightning still believed that his ideas were still the superior ones. Another example that he hasn’t completely grown as a racer. Lightning had learned so much from Doc, that every race, he took the other racers by surprise with something new. He truly wasn’t a rookie anymore, and he had proved it.
The road to getting the Piston Cup though was a pretty tricky one though. Chick wasn’t gonna let Lightning win this time around. No, he still held a grudge on Lightning after last year when the reporters started calling the rookie racer the “true winner of the Piston Cup.” So Chick was making it extra hard on Lightning. At the same time acting like a total butthole. But Lightning was able to handle it. Only problem is Chick kept on popping into town for strange reasons. He also seemed to threaten him the one time he beat him in an off-road race. Which he did end up doing. If you can count having someone else do it for him. Which of course he hired the Delinquent Road Hazards, or at least that’s their nickname around Radiator Springs. They had stolen all of Lightning’s gear, and in the end, he got them back. Then, right after the race before the Piston Cup, Chick couldn’t take it anymore. He flipped out saying he had won the race instead of Lightning, and demanded a rematch. Lightning decided to hold the very first annual Radiator Springs Grand Prix instead, which was a series of three races, each in three different parts of Ornament Valley: Radiator Springs, Tailfin Pass, and Ornament Valley itself. In the end, Lightning won all of them. It all led up to the Piston Cup, which Lightning of course had won.
Of course, Lightning had lots of fans. And possibly the largest female fan base. Then again, he did have his looks to help out. He had dirty blonde hair that was easily messy, but it was his signature look. It wasn’t too long, but yet it wasn’t trimmed all nice and neat either. His bright blue eyes were another trademark of his. Lots of girls seemed to stare into his eyes whenever they saw him on TV or saw a picture of him. He was around 5 foot 11 and was definitely muscular. When girls saw him in Radiator Springs, they sometimes begged for him to take off his shirt. Sometimes, they’d faint and have to be sent over to Doc’s. Who knew Lightning’s looks could do that to someone?
Lightning, Mater, and Sally had all decided to go on a little road trip, heading out eastward on Route 66. Of course the travelers were in a frenzy that Lightning had left. But the remainder of the town tried to handle it the best that they could. When Lightning and the gang had returned 9 days before Christmas, they were relieved. “Thank God you three are back!” Doc shouted.
“Let me guess, my fans were tearing the town apart searching for me.” Lightning said.
“That sounds about right.”
Lightning just laughed at that. And of course Doc laughed along. Sure the two still argued a little at times, but it was mainly because of their tempers. Only Lightning’s wasn’t as short fused as Doc’s. For example, if someone was making fun of Lightning, he’d yell at them to stop. But if Doc was being made fun of, they’d be running. If the two didn’t have their tempers, and Lightning’s cockiness never helped anything, they’d probably be the best of friends. Maybe even better than Lightning and Mater. In fact, some people in the town argued that Lightning and Doc were the dynamic duo instead of Lightning and Mater. And the young racer had to admit, Doc and Mater were the two greatest friends he’d ever had. It was hard to call just one as his best friend. But usually he said Mater was. Mater was pretty sensitive, and Lightning saw Doc as something more than just a friend. . .
“So, did you keep an eye out on that Piston Cup trophy I had you look over while I was gone?” Lightning asked. Lightning had given it to Doc to look after while they were gone on their little trip. He knew that Doc would take good care of it, even though he didn’t exactly take care of his own for that long span of time. In fact, his first trophy had tools in it! But not anymore. Now all three trophies were shined up and kept nice in a display case over at the Radiator Springs Racing Museum. To believe the building was once a motel!
“Yep. Let me go get it real quick!” Doc left off for his place.
Ramone walked up and inspected Lightning’s car. “Homie, your car could see a visit to my shop. It needs cleaned up. Maybe even a new coat of poly. Better yet, let me just give your car a whole new makeover.”
“Just as long as you don’t touch the racecar.” Lightning warned.
“Don’t worry, man! I’m just gonna paint the Corvette!” Lightning had bought himself a Corvette to ride around town in so that he was able to keep his custom made racecar in top condition. He didn’t need anything bad to happen to it!
“Okay. And no flames. I know how much you love them, but I’d prefer it if the flames stuck to your car and not to mine.”
“Got it!”
Lightning handed Ramone the keys to the Corvette, and Ramone took the car to his paint shop.
“Here’s the trophy back.” Doc said.
“Thanks. Look, I know it sounded awkward that I had you keep an eye on it, but-”
“Hey, I didn’t mind. Besides, I can understand you being all protective of your first trophy. God knows I was! Well, at least until I got here. Then I slacked a bit.”
“A bit! That thing had enough dust on it that all of it could cover the whole desert!”
“Okay, maybe I slacked a lot.”
Lightning chuckled a little. “I’m gonna head over to my place. I wanna put all my stuff away.”
“Okay. See ya at Flo’s when you’re done!”
“I’ll be there!”
Lightning’s house was practically built onto his headquarters. They had started to build it mid way through the season and finished it right before he had left for his trip. Lightning was still fixing it up a little to make it more like a home, but at the moment, he didn’t have the time to do so. He wanted to unpack, then eat.
Once Lightning was done unpacking his wardrobe, mainly consisting of clothes from brand name stores, like Hollister, American Eagle, and Areopostale, he decided to check his mailbox. A lot of it was junk mail. But one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. He recognized the hand designs on the envelope from anywhere. “Mom.” he said. She’d always design the letters and the envelopes they came in with designs of flowers, vines, birds, things she enjoyed. They gave the letters a more personal touch. None of the McQueen kids had to read the return address to know that their mother had sent them something. He opened the letter as he walked down to Flo’s.
Dear Darien,
Lightning rolled his eyes at his name. It annoyed him too much. Darien. Ugh, why’d she have to name me that!? Of all the people named Darien that I’ve met, they were all girls.
Lightning decided to continue on with the letter. But first, he decided to look along the margins. This time, his mother had gone with a theme of tulips. Red ones, most likely for him.
[i]I’ve missed you so much. To believe that it’s almost been two years since you’ve left to become a racecar driver. I miss you, and I wish you would come back. But since you’ve mad your home in Radiator Springs, I’ve decided that I will invite you to stay here for Christmas, and for all of January. Unless you have to leave during that time to prepare for the next season. I know all your siblings are coming back for that time, at least the ones who are old enough to leave the house. They all want to see you, too. Just please, I’d love to see you again. You can even bring three of your closest friends, for that’s all the room we have in the guest rooms. You should remember why. I’d love for you to come back home for the holidays.
Love,
Mom[/i]
Lightning stopped reading as he entered Flo’s. “Mom wants me to come home?” he said aloud, without realizing it.
“What did you say?” Sally asked. She was sitting down in the third booth on the left hand side. The booths had red 50’s diner styled seats and chrome like tables with white table tops.
Sally had straight, pale blonde hair and beautiful blue-green eyes. She was a size 4, and about 5 foot 5. She didn’t have flashy breasts like many would have thought so when Lightning would say “I have the hottest girlfriend around!” but a modest B cup. She had a sun-kissed tan and toned arms. Her legs seemed to stretch for miles in a pair of short shorts, and her feet were small little things, but Lightning didn’t mind. This was his Sally, and he loved every part of her.
“Uh, oh! Oh, um. . . My mom wants me to come home for the holidays.”
“I’d love to tag along with you, Stickers.”
“You would? Great! I’m allowed to bring along three people. You’ll make one, and I’ll bring Mater and Doc as the other two.”
“Only three?”
“Yeah. We only have two guest rooms, and one has a broken bed. Why did Tyler have to dare me to jump on that be!?”
“What!?”
“When I was younger, my brother who’s a year younger than me, Tyler, had dared me to jump on the bed. I was, and it’s an old wooden bed, and the one bed post broke. It was also on laundry day, so the bed had no sheets, just a mattress. When the post broke, it tilted the bed, and the mattress was silky like, so when I came down, I slid down the post and well, hurt myself where you don’t want to be hurt.”
“Ouch!”
“I know. Tyler found that one funny. In fact, it got on America’s Funniest Home Videos as a finalist once. He was video taping it.”
“Oh my! Wait, I think I remember that one!”
“Yep. I did get some money for being the runner-up. So in the end, it was a reward. A reward for hurting myself in the crotch.”
“So, how many siblings do you have?”
"You won’t believe it, but I have seven.
“No way!”
“Yes. I’m the oldest by five minutes. Then there’s my twin sister, Hallie, my brother Tyler, the triplets, Jenny, Mikayla, and Ashley, Heather, and the youngest one, Maddie.”
“Wow.”
“Yes, well, living with parents who can’t learn to wear a condom does have its downfalls.”
Sally chuckled a little.
“Well, it’s true!” Lightning added. “I’m surprised Mom isn’t having another. But then again, my dad isn’t around to give her another.”
“What do you mean?”
“He died four years ago due to a heart attack.”
Sally took in a sharp breath. “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay.”
“Well, when should we come?”
“Uh. . .” Lightning looked back down at the letter. “I guess just sometime before Christmas officially starts. She didn’t say. Then again, Mom always forgets dates. Like my one birthday party, she forgot to write the time the guests should be there. Everyone came at random times.”
“Oh my!”
“Yeah. But hey, that meant my party was longer than usual!”
“You’ve got that right. Well, we better get packing and tell Mater and Doc about our plans.”
“I just unpacked!” Lightning complained.
All Sally could do was laugh.
“So I’m invited ta cum wit ya ta yur mum’s house?” Mater asked. Lightning had headed over to Mater’s first. Mater lived in an old shack of a house, not very sturdy either being that he built it himself. It actually took Lightning a month before he could enter Mater’s house without worrying that it might fall over. But Lightning still had that feeling in his stomach that one of these days. . .
Now, Mater wasn’t the best looking tool in the shed, but definitely the best one a friend could ask for. He was larger, and 6 foot on the dot. He was balding a little on the top, so he usually wore a cap on his dark brown hair. He always had some sort of stubble on his face, not really caring about it. His usual wardrobe consisted of a flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off, an old pair of dirty jeans, and a pair of muddy boots. Sure Mater didn’t have the appearance of a stud or anything, but when it came to friendship, he was one of the best.
“Yep! I figured since you’re my best friend and all. . .”
“Why, thank ya, buddy! I’d love ta cum wit ya! So, where do ya live at?”
“I lived out in Maplecreek Falls in Tennessee.”
“Ya lived in Tennessee?”
“Yep.”
“Ya don’t look like da Southern type.”
“Well, I am! Besides, racing is more of a Southern sport. It all started in South Carolina. Would you believe it all started because of alcohol?”
“Huh?”
“There used to be these people in South Carolina who would brew alcohol, which was an illegal substance in the 1920’s, under the ‘shine of the moon.’ They would drive at the fastest speeds of the time with the headlights off to avoid being caught even though the police were already on their tails. On Sundays, these ‘Moonshine Runners’ would bet on which car was the fastest and soon people showed up. With that, NASCAR was born! Weird, huh?”
“How’d ya know dat!?”
“When you love racing, you tend to learn everything about it, including its history. It’s actually probably the only history lesson I ever paid attention to.”
“So ya weren’t all dat great in school, huh?”
“Well, a few subjects I excelled in, but lets just say math and history were subjects I needed a tutor in.”
“Then what done ya do good at?”
“Gym of course. You probably don’t need me to remind you how I did in the little baseball game we did.”
“And I always thunked that I was da best baseball player 'round here.”
“Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I didn’t realize that it would hurt your feelings. I also did well in English believe it or not. I’m pretty good at writing. I almost did get a novel published while I was in 10th grade once. Only problem was I got second place in the national contest. And it’s all or nothing.”
“Maybe ya could try ta done get dat book made!”
“Maybe. But then again, no one would take a racer seriously as an author. So, you coming with me back home?”
“Well, of course, buddy! I don’t have anyone ta go ta anyways.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t like ta talk 'bout it. Maybe some other time.”
“Okay. See ya later, Mater.” Lightning said, knowing Mater loved that rhyming phrase. Even though he wasn’t too keen on rhymes himself.
“Buh-bye, Lightnin’!”
Why wouldn’t Mater have a family to go to? And why won’t he talk about it? Has to be pretty bad for he’s always open to me like a brother.
Lightning only had one last person left to invite. And that was Doc. Lightning wasn’t so sure if Doc was gonna say yes, for he was pretty sure Doc had a brother or something, not to mention a sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. But it was worth a shot, right?
Lightning decided to knock on the freshly painted green wooden door. He could still remember it a year ago when the paint was fading and there were signs all over the door that said “Keep out!” and “Do not enter!” Doc had taken those down about a week before the 2006 Piston Cup season started. Only recently did Doc get around to painting the door. He had a New Year’s Resolution: Clean up the house for once! Doc had almost met his goal. All he needed to do now was to finish his bedroom by buying new furniture, and for once in over 20 years, his house would actually look like someone lived in it again! Of course he did get some help from Lightning. . .
The second Lightning knocked on the door, Doc knew exactly who it was. For some odd reason, Lightning seemed to knock exactly the same way every time. It seemed to have some sort of a rhythm to it. It was like a longer knock, two shorter ones, and then a longer one. It wasn’t like a simple pounding of the door in any which way.
“Lightning!” Doc greeted with a smile on his face. To believe it or not, Doc was one of those people that seemed to age slowly. He looked probably 42 when he was really 53. He actually seemed to grow younger in the past year. Then again, it was Lightning who got him to get back in shape like he used to be. Doc still had girls flocking all over him. Sure his hair was dark grey and he had to wear silver, rectangular framed glasses now, but those piercing blue eyes, his smile, and his improved bod were what kept the girls around. At about 5 foot 9, he wasn’t too tall, but not a shrimp either. He always seemed to dress appropriately for any situation. Only problem: with his size, he could buy a lot of clothes from the stores Lightning shopped at, but not as many where he would like to. That was the downfall to being so fit.
“Hey, Doc. So how would you like to go to my old place for Christmas?” Lightning asked.
“I’d love to! Wait, I kinda hoped that I’d be able to spend it with my brother, Robert.”
“Well, I’ve been invited for until we have to prepare for the next season, so you can come after Christmas.”
“Then everything works out! Just so I know, where do you live? Or you did live I should say.”
“Maplecreek Falls, Tennessee.”
Doc looked at Lightning as if he had said “I was kidnapped by aliens!” “So wait, you grew up in a small town in Tennessee?”
“Yeah, why?”
“This is coming from the kid who used to be a spoiled, stuck-up butthole. And who found our town to be ‘Hillbilly Hell.’”
“Well, I’ve got to admit, after almost a full season of being under the spotlight, I did lose touch with my roots. And Maplecreek Falls is actually a prospering town, unlike Radiator Springs when I first found it. And the citizens aren’t so, what’s the word I’m looking for, quirky? Not to insult you guys or anything! Just, you were all so different from what I was used to.”
“Hey, no hard feelings! I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Wait, then how is it you’ve never heard of cow tipping before you came here?”
“I had heard of it! I just never did it because in our town, if you were caught, you were put under trials. It was illegal in our town. I didn’t want to get in that sort of trouble.”
“Oh. You know, if we started doing that, maybe we wouldn’t have to herd those cows every week!”
“Yeah. But cow tipping’s pretty fun. You’ve got to try it sometime.”
“I’ll pass on that. Oh, and if Mater’s coming-”
“Yeah, I might wanna tell him. Thanks! Oh, and I’ll pay for your ticket! I’ll have the flight set for January 1!” Lightning said jogging backwards so he could get to Mater, but at the same time have Doc hear what he needed to finish up.
“Watch out!” Doc shouted.
Lightning turned his head around to see what Doc was warning him about, and crashed right into Fillmore, who was going for a walk. “Show the love, man.” he said in his slow speech.
“Sorry 'bout that, Fillmore.”
“It’s okay, man. Sure you didn’t mean to.”
“I gotta go get Mater. See ya!” Lightning said, running again, this time forwards. I have no idea how Mater can drive backwards if I can’t even jog backwards!
December 20, 2006
Lightning had gotten the four tickets for the flights down to Memphis, Tennessee. From there, they’d have to drive 20 miles to get to Maplecreek Falls. Of course, Lightning would have to drive back down to the airport on New Year’s Day to pick up Doc. Knowing his crew chief, he didn’t need Doc trying to read directions. Let’s just say Doc would get pissed off two seconds into the journey. Lightning had finished packing for the trip. He couldn’t wait to see his siblings again. “You ready?” Sally asked.
“You bet!” Lightning answered
Lightning walked Sally out as they met up with Mater by the Corvette. Ramone had painted it a dark blue and painted a lightning design all over it. Lightning loved the fact that it looked like a real storm. Lightning hopped into the driver’s seat, Sally took shotgun, and Mater sat in the middle seat in the back. “You sure you can’t come for the actual holiday, Doc?” Lightning asked.
“Hey, I made a promise. I can’t break it.”
Lightning started up the car and the three waved back to the town’s folk. “See ya’ll later!” the young racer shouted back.
“Ya’ll?” Sally asked. “I haven’t heard you use that one.”
“Well, I did grow up in Tennessee.”
Lightning pushed the gas pedal, and the three were back on the road again. Only this time, their destination was the Phoenix airport.
Holy cow! This is 4,181 words! And about 9 and a half pages with a Times New Roman point 12 font. Jaw dropping Well, I guess I’m getting better at making my chapters longer. I don’t know if they’ll all be as long as this, but they will rarely reach between 1,000 to 1,999 anymore. Heck, even the low 2,000’s will be rare. I’ve got a lot to cover, and I’m hoping to have more speedy updates. Only two more days of school left to endure. Come on, Em, you can do it! Okay, I’m done coaching myself. XD
