Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Pixar. All OCs belong to me.
Mud!
May 2008
It had been pouring with rain for three days straight in Radiator Springs. In some ways, it was a good thing. It watered all the plants, and helped settle the dust, which in recent times had become quite bad. Unfortunately, it also kept the tourists away, but since Lightning had been away for the racing season, there hadn't been that many anyway.
Earlier that morning, Lightning, Doc and Mack had arrived back in town for a rest. No thanks to Chick Hicks, Lightning had sustained some minor damage to his front right-hand suspension in his last race, and while the injury had almost healed, Doc wanted Lightning to have a short break from racing, to give the injury time to heal properly.
Mack had been kind enough to park his trailer directly in front of Doc's clinic, giving Lightning the chance to dash inside out of the rain. Mack knew that Lightning didn't like getting wet if he could avoid it.
Elinor met Lightning the moment he drove inside the clinic. As soon as Mack had moved out of the way, Doc also entered the clinic, and he shook himself dry.
"Had much rain?" he asked Elinor.
"Plenty. How are you both?"
Lightning shrugged. "Can't complain."
"You were the other day," Doc quipped. "Loudly too."
"What the track doctor did to me hurt!" Lightning protested.
"That reminds me. I need to give you your next dose of painkiller."
"Can't it wait? You know how drowsy it makes me."
"All the more reason why you need to take it. You're supposed to be resting."
Lightning sighed submissively as Doc set about preparing the painkiller. Elinor gave Lightning a sympathetic hug.
"Never mind, sweetie. You'll be back racing before you know it."
"Lightning, I'd like you to stay with us while you're healing," Doc said.
Lightning rolled his eyes. "Great! My mother calls me 'sweetie', and now I'm being baby-sat! Can my life get any worse?"
Sure enough, it did. Mater burst inside the clinic, almost landing on top of Lightning. Lightning had to leap out of the way in order to avoid being bowled over by the overenthusiastic tow truck.
"Buddy! Yer back!"
"Ouch! Yes, I am, Mater," Lightning winced. Leaping out of the way had caused him to accidentally strain his already tender spring.
Seeing Lightning's pained face, Mater was instantly remorseful. "Aw! Bud! Dids I hurt ya?"
Doc was instantly at Lightning's side. "Let me take a look, son."
"It's nothing, Doc." Lightning insisted. "I just landed awkwardly on it, that's all."
"Lightning!" Doc growled.
Reluctantly, Lightning lifted up his front right-hand wheel. Doc examined his suspension for a few minutes, frowning the whole time.
"It looks okay…" he said slowly. "You probably just strained it again, or re-aggravated the bruising. I'll give you the painkiller, and then you can go and sit on an ice pack for twenty minutes."
"Dat bad?" Mater asked sadly as Doc drove back over to his work bench.
Doc let out a long sigh. "Mater, can you please leave us for now? Lightning needs to rest."
"Okay den." And Mater headed slowly towards the door. Sally entered just as he was leaving.
"Hey Sal!" Lightning smiled, and he drove closer to her.
"Hey Stickers. I saw you arrive. How are you feeling? I saw what Chick did to you in the race. Didn't you lodge a protest?"
"Oh yeah, but we haven't heard anything about it. Have you, Doc?"
"Not a word. Can you come over here, please?"
Reluctantly, Lightning drove over to Doc. Doc was holding an air-powered syringe. Lightning groaned.
"Why can't it be administered into my fuel tank, like it usually is?" he asked.
"It works faster this way," Doc explained. "Open up."
Closing his eyes, Lightning slowly opened his mouth.
"Wider," Doc ordered.
Lightning did so, and Doc inserted the syringe as far back into Lightning's mouth as he could reach. Before Lightning could start protesting, Doc fired the trigger. Lightning jumped as the painkiller medicine was shot straight down his throat. Doc quickly removed the syringe as Lightning backed away, coughing and shaking his hood.
"You'd better have swallowed all of that," Doc said.
"I did," Lightning finally gasped. "Along with some saliva!"
"Sorry about that. Your mother can help you get settled with the ice pack. Sorry, Sally, but Mater unintentionally made Lightning hurt himself again, so he needs to rest now. You can see him again later."
"Okay Doc," Sally smiled. She gave Lightning a quick kiss on the cheek before she drove out of the clinic and back into the pouring rain.
Lightning sighed tiredly. The painkiller was already starting to take effect. Moving carefully, he followed Elinor to the spare room, where he often stayed whenever he needed to be close to his parents. Elinor helped him get settled with a large ice pack.
"Let me know if you need anything," she said as she closed the door.
Lightning was fast asleep within two minutes.
…
With a shiver, Lightning shifted around restlessly. It was night time, and the rain had finally stopped. But Lightning still had an ice pack around his injured spring; a fresh one his mother had given to him about an hour earlier. He was only supposed to keep it on for twenty minutes at a time, but he'd fallen asleep. Now, the whole spring was frozen and numb.
Lightning's phone vibrated. It was a message from Mater. All it said was, 'Come outside'.
Lightning hesitated. Doc had more or less forbidden him from going tractor tipping, but maybe Mater wanted something else. The only problem Lightning now faced was how to get outside without being heard. Doc was such a light sleeper, and he'd easily hear Lightning leave the house. Lightning had been caught once before, which had resulted in his being forbidden to go tractor tipping. So, there was only one other way Lightning could get outside. And it wouldn't be easy. Especially with his injury.
A few minutes later, Lightning crawled out of his bedroom window, landing carefully in the long grass. He drove over to where Mater was lurking in the shadows.
"What are we doing, Mater?" Lightning asked in a whisper.
"I found us an awesome mud pit!" Mater replied. "Let's go!"
Sighing, Lightning reluctantly followed Mater out of town. They soon reached the mud pit. It wasn't very deep, but it sure looked thick and slippery.
Giggling excitedly, Mater jumped into the mud, skidding uncontrollably. "Hehe! Cool! Come on, bud! This is awesome!"
"Mater…" Lightning began, but then he realised his best friend wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Sighing again, Lightning carefully drove into the mud. It was much thicker than he'd expected it to be, and he soon became stuck.
Chuckling, Mater pulled Lightning out of the deep mud, and into a shallower area. "Yous gotta go fast, or you'll gets stuck!"
"Thanks for pointing out that little detail," Lightning replied. Then he revved his engine and he took off at racing pace.
As Lightning drifted around the mud pit behind Mater, mud sprayed up in all directions, covering both tow truck and race car in thick, oozing mud. It didn't take long for Lightning to start laughing and enjoying himself.
After about an hour, Lightning and Mater crept silently back into town. Mater headed off towards his junkyard, leaving Lightning to negotiate climbing back through the window all by himself. Somehow, Lightning managed it without too much difficulty. Once he was safely inside, he closed the window. Then, he settled back down to sleep again.
...
Early the next morning, Elinor entered Lightning's room to check on him. What she saw made her freeze. Lightning was no longer red – he was brown! All except his eyelids, of course.
"Lightning Blaze McQueen!" Elinor shouted furiously.
The shout woke Lightning, and brought Doc rushing into the room. His eyes also widened when he saw the state Lightning was in.
"What?" Lightning asked, confused.
Elinor turned a mirror towards him. Lightning's eyes also widened when he saw the clay caked all over his body.
"Oops," he muttered sheepishly.
"Is that all you've got to say?" Doc growled.
"For the moment."
"You didn't go tractor tipping, did you?"
"No! I promise! Mater found a mud pit, and he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."
"You need to tell him that he needs to take 'no' for an answer!" Doc retorted. "Now, come outside, and we'll get you cleaned up."
Groaning audibly, Lightning started to follow Doc, but his mother quickly stopped him. "Hold on, Lightning! You're not going anywhere until I've put some newspaper down. Your tyres are caked with mud!"
Begrudgingly, Lightning waited until Elinor had put down a carpet of newspaper for him to drive on. Once she was happy for him to move, he drove outside. Before his eyes could adjust to the brilliant morning sunlight, water was sprayed right in his face.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, backing away a bit. He would've driven off to get away from the unexpected shower, when he realised that Sherriff, Sally and Ramone had boxed him in, giving him no room to escape. Cringing, he closed his eyes, and he put up with the continuous spray of water as best he could.
"Stop please, Red," Doc finally instructed.
Lightning coughed and spluttered as Doc looked closely at him. Red's spray hadn't done much to remove the mud. Lightning opened his eyes just long enough to see Doc nod in Ramone's direction. A second later, he felt a high-pressure jet of hot water and steam hit his side.
"Ow!"
"Hold still, Stickers!" Sally called.
Lightning tried to, but the high pressure cleaning was starting to hurt. Finally, after about ten minutes, Ramone turned off the high pressure cleaner. Lightning cautiously opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a pool of brown water. Looking down at his hood, he saw that his racing stickers were gone, including his favourite lightning bolt. Sinking down low on his wheels, he pouted.
Sally started to laugh when she saw how sad Lightning looked. His expression actually made him look rather cute. Moving in closer, she planted a kiss on his cheek.
"You look very handsome with just your red paint."
Lightning just continued sulking until he saw Mater approaching. Sure enough, Mater was still caked in mud.
'Don't you dare go anywhere, Mater!" Lightning shouted, pushing his way past Sherriff and Red. "You're next!"
"Oh, dang!" Mater yelped, and he took off backwards with Lightning chasing after him.
Doc was about to try and stop Lightning, because of his injury, when Elinor stopped him.
"If he injures himself again, he's only got himself to blame. Then, you can teach him a good lesson by confining him until he's better."
"Mmm…" Doc mused. "I like the sound of that! At least then I'd always know exactly where he is!"