Disclaimer: I don't own Cars. I don't even have a own one.

Chapter I

Arrival

"Hey fellows, I've got some news for you!". It was a hot Saturday morning in Radiator Springs and Sally, Mater and all the other residents were standing in front of Flo's V8 when Lightning arrived. He seemed to be quite excited.

"We have some new residents!" Lightning said.

"So what?" asked Ramone. Indeed this wasn't really something special. Since the events at the last Piston Cup race a lot of cars came to RS every day and the most of them decided to stay for some time as famous cars like Lightning and the Fabulous Hudson Hornet lived there.

"Well, ya know, the strange thing is they came in the middle of the night. Nobody knows where they are or what they look like. Seems a bit mysterious to me".

"You're right kid. I wouldn't trust this kind of people." Sarge said darkly. "This could be the beginning of an invasion. It's a military procedure. They send a small group of people to check things out. Not to engage, but to evaluate the situation... evaluate the level of danger."

"C'mon guys, don't be so prejudiced". This was Fillmore. "Maybe they're just shy. We should visit them for showing our good will."

"Now don't rush things" said Doc firmly. "Let the matter take its course, wait and see. We don't want to drive them away by bad behaviour. As we are already talking about news, I just heard that some of you're racer friends are coming here today hotrod, including Mr The King."

"Hey, that's great! I haven't seen him for weeks!" Lightning said. "Sally told me that he and some of his friends would stay at the Cozy Cone for this summer", Doc said. "Speaking about race cars, have you heard anything about Chick Hicks since the last Piston Cup?". "Nope", Lightning answered. "Wonder if he will show up in the next season since Dinoco didn't want to be his sponsor. He couldn't expect a big welcome I guess. If you ask me he should spend the summer break at a psychiatrist". Lightning laughed but he was surprised when he felt regret while thinking at his old rival. Even if they had never been friends it had been fun to race with him. Well at least it had been fun to beat him.

Some hours later a couple of race cars arrived in front of Flo's V8 Café. One of them was a blue Plymouth Superbird. Lightning, Doc and Sally came to greet them. "Hello Mr. The King!" Lightning said to the blue car "How are you?". "Hello Lightning McQueen! I'm fine again. And I'm looking forward to spend some days in that town. Now I have time enough to enjoy my free time without practicing for another race." "Yeah but I will miss you in the races" Lightning sighed "it will be pretty boring without you and I'm not sure weather Chick will be back in the next season". Lightning winced. He shouldn't have mentioned Chick. After all Chick was responsible for The King's accident.

"Chick Hicks…" The King sighed and asked "Have you heard anything from him since… well since the last race?" "No" said Lightning "Neither have I" another voice replied. It was a red race car. It was Dale Earnhardt Junior. Junior for short. He was not much older than Lightning was. "Hi Junior. How is it going?" "I'm fine" Junior said. "But we have bad news. Do you remember James Chrome?" "Of course" Lightning answered. "I don't know him very well but he always seemed friendly and he is a pretty good racer" "Well he was a pretty good racer" The King said sadly. "He died 2 days ago". "WHAT?!" Lightning was shocked. "How? What happened?" "It was an engine attack" Junior explained "But it's not sure why he had one." The cars remained silence for some seconds. Then The King looked into the sky "It's getting dark.". "What about a little drive under the stars stickers?" Sally asked and smiled at Lightning "Sure!" Lightning said "See ya later guys!"

Meanwhile a green Buick Regal was standing in front of a sign saying "Welcome to Radiator Springs". It was Chick Hicks. He sighed. The last few weeks hadn't been a pleasure for him. Although he had climbed the promotion ladder. Well of course Dinoco didn't want to be his sponsor. What a surprise. But there were still plenty of reputable sponsors which wanted Chick to be their next racer. And he had good and bad press. Some called him the guy who stopped at nothing. Others ignored the circumstances and celebrated the new Piston Cup champion. But his loyal fans were gone. And even the hostile takeover bank didn't seem to be happy to deal with him.

So Chick had spent most of his time thinking about what had gone wrong. Now he understood victory can feel very empty and he thought the things leading to his victory weren't worth it. If he had lost the last race he would have tried it next season again and he would have had still all his friends and fans. He wanted his old life back. And he knew the first step was to apologize. To Strip Weathers "The King". But what to say? "Sorry, I didn't mean it. Let's forget it". And in addition there was McQueen in that town! Chick didn't want to see that brat. But how could he get into the town without meeting someone?

He was still searching for a solution when suddenly somebody spoke to him. "Hey what are you doing here in the middle of the night?". It was Sherriff. "Damn it!" Chick thought. "I hope he will not recognize me." He said: "Uhm, I was just wondering if this is the right direction to Radiator Springs". "Well," Sherriff said and looked at the giant sign saying "Welcome to Radiator Springs" "Judging by this sign I'd say it is. What's your name Mr.? "My name? Uhm… my name is… Michael. Michael Keaton!" "And what is your purpose here Mr. Keaton?" "I'm just hanging around. I should go now" Chick drove off. Looks like I have to make a detour if I don't want to meet anyone of this dump.

"I'm sure this will be fun driving through an unknown area in the night without headlights."

So, this is it. My first fanfiction ever. English is not my first language so please be gentle. If you find more than ten spelling mistakes you'll get one for free. I would be glad about reviews so I know weather I should continiue this story :)

Thanks for reading the first chapter!