She was jostled awake to a roar.
Not just any roar though, it was mechanical, not like a lions roar.
Oh god, she thought, I hope it's not a tornado!
Then her half- asleep worries vanished.
Oh I know… how could I be that stupid…
It was Lightning.
Then she jumped out of her weariness. Lightning's engine isn't that loud…what the hell is he doing?
Sally knew just where to look. Either that or the deafening sound led her to it.
When she arrived a Willy's Butte, Doc was watching from the hilltop. So she joined him, hoping to find out what was going on.
But a conversation was impossible with the noise, so she settled to watch… and found half of an answer.
Lightning was screaming along at 200mph, and he didn't show any signs of slowing. On top of that, he was incredibly filthy, even worse than when he was paving the road, with dirt caked on his worn- out tires. He seemed angry, and went around the loop with total precision.
Suddenly two of his tires burst with a loud BANG, and he stopped, grumbling. Luigi and Guido came out to replace them, and Luigi warned; "these are your last fresh tires, Lightning." The angry response was, "Yea, whatever!" and Lightning took off again.
Sally sighed. She looked over at Doc for an explanation, just to find that he was doing the same. Then Doc said, "Sally, you look hungry. Let's go to Flo's until hotrod decides to calm down a bit." Sally nodded, and followed Doc to the station with a puzzled look on her face.
***
Lightning entered the station with heavy breathing and a sour face. Apparently, his "little drive" had been successful in only wearing him out.
Luigi spotted him and said, "He went through 32 tires! 8 pairs in one hour!"
Lightning just grumbled and said, "I wanted to."
The DRH where also at Flo's and Boost was the first to notice Lightning's condition. He sneered. Lightning, in response, stuck a fraction of his tongue out toward him. Sheriff cleared his throat, as a "be careful, don't beat each other up cuz I got a taser" warning.
Sally couldn't take it much longer. "What the heck where you doing?" she questioned, trying to keep calm.
Before he could answer, Boost called out, "Tryin' to kill myself!" then sniggered.
Lightning emitted a low growl and said stiffly, "No, I wasn't."
"Prove it, ya slowpoke!"
"Are you challenging me?"
"Maybe."
"Well, just because your spoiler is bigger than everyone else's doesn't mean you're faster or better than them."
"So you accept my challenge?"
"Definitely. Willy's Butte in 10 minutes."
"Deal!"
Boost took off in a swirl of nitrous, his gang following.
Lightning sighed, then called out, "Luigi, Guido, I need new tires. Just any tires that I can race in." he was too late in saying so, because a famous Ferrari had just entered their shop. Oh boy, looks like these tires will have to last until Mack comes back… and with that thought, he set off again to a 1 lap race at WB.
***
Boost was waiting at the starting mark, and looked up at Lightning. "So, what took ya, slowpoke?"
Lightning didn't want to reply, because if he did, it would contain swears, and then it would get physical. He pulled up to the cable and waited until Sheriff was done with his rant of rules. Then he shouted, GO, and they both took off like a Peregrine falcon, startling Sheriff and the crowd.
As they came around bend 1, Lightning noticed a faint purple glow on the other end of the straight- away, and it was getting bigger by the second. Now it was big enough to swallow a car… his eyes widened. Lightning had no idea on what it was… and before he could think, it swallowed him.
Boost didn't know about the 2nd turn, and ended up flying off the cliff and exploding. Everyone was stunned stiff. Sally ran over to the spot where Lightning had vanished, while everyone else went to Boost. "Oh, dude, man… I think hes dead man!" Ramone cried out. Sally began to panic. "Yea, but where's Lightning?!?! Hes gone!!! GONE!!!"