Of Rain and Thunderstorms

by Firebird (FireSaturn)

DISCLAIMER: Cars, it plot, setting, and characters are not mine, but belongs to Pixar Disney. Sapphire Sky and Amber Weathers are my characters and property.

CHAPTER ONE

She weaved inbetween other cars trying to get away from those four delinquents who were chasing her. The other motorists blared their horns at her, but she ignored them and kept driving. Now if she could find a way to escape the highway, the young Pontiac Trans Am's fear would be put to rest.

Getting between two semis, Amber hoped that the delinquents would pass her by, but it was not going to happen. A neon green and purple Nissan Silvia with a ladderlike spoiler and with what looked like spikes around his tires, pulled up beside her. He snapped on his lights, shining them in Amber's face.

"Hey, Boost," he called to the leader of Delinquents, "I found her."

A purple Mistubishi Eclipse roared up, chuckling with delight when he saw Amber in the glare of the Wingo's lights. Amber now felt trapped with nowhere to run. But then she saw an exit coming up and decided to take a chance. She whipped out from between the semis and sped into the exit.

"After her!" shouted Boost as he sped after his query.

The other three Delinquents sped after the dark red Trans Am, following her onto the exit. Since there were few cars on the small road in the nighttime, none of them had any trouble keeping up with Amber. Oh, she was fast, but not as fast as Boost. Soon the Eclipse was only a few yards away from the Trans-Am's back bumper.

The chase flew down the road, untimately past the billboard where a 1949 Mercury Cruiser was sleeping. The speeding cars woke him up instantly. He turned on his siren and flashed his lights and sped after the racing vehicles.

Meanwhile, Boost had gotten up beside Amber. Then he slammed into her, sending the dark red Trans Am spinning into a ditch. She groaned painfully. Boost sped by laughing, followed by DJ, Wingo, and Snot Rod, whose sudden sneeze gave him a boost of speed and scattered the others.

"It's the Sheriff!" Wingo shouted when he heard the wailing sirens and flashing lights approach.

"Move!" Boost ordered and the Delinquent Road Hazards fled the scene of the accident that they had caused on Route 66.

When Sheriff pulled up puffing to where Amber had crashed, he was aghast. The Trans Am was badly damaged, sporting a big dent in her left side and a crushed fender.

"Don't you worry, young lady," Sheriff told the injured car, hoping that she was still conscious and could hear him, "I'll be back quickly with help."

True to his word, Sheriff came back with a rusty tow truck and a blue '51 Hudson Hornet. The tow truck, named Tow Mater, gently lifted the Trans-Am up out of the ditch and back onto the road. The Hornet looked her over.

"Get her to my clinic, Mater," said the Hornet, "She needs medical attention as soon as possible."

"Okey, Dokey," replied Mater.

The three cars headed back to the town called Radiator Springs with the damaged Trans Am in tow. At Flo's V8 Cafe, the other residents watched as they came in and headed straight toward Doc Hudson's clinic. They followed the trio and gathered in the front entrance, wondering what was going on inside and who was the injured Trans Am that had been brought in.

"Ooooh..."

Amber woke up to find herself up on a lift in a doctor's office. She panicked, thinking that she had been caught by the Delinquents.

"Calm down," a gruff voice penetrated her thoughts, "You're out of danger now."

"Who are you?" Amber asked when she saw an old Hudson Hornet looking up at her.

"Doc Hudson," said the Hornet, "Now would you mind telling me your name?"

"Let me down first," answered Amber, who couldn't stand being up on the lift anymore and wanted to have her tires on the pavement again. She felt helpless and vulnerable.

The lift drifted down until it touched the floor. Amber drove off it warily.

"Now, your name, please, young lady," said Doc Hudson.

"Amber," the Trans Am replied, "Amber Weathers."

Doc's eyelids lifted a little. Was she related to Strip Weathers and Sapphire Sky? he thought. "Weathers, eh? I have heard of that name before," said Doc in a thoughtful voice.

"You know my father and sister?" asked Amber.

Doc nodded, "Yes, I know your father and sister."

"How?"

"Not now. You need to rest," Doc told Amber, "You've been in crash and I want to make sure that you're going to be alright."

As Amber rolled out of the clinic with Doc, she saw the other residents of the town gathered around the entrance waiting. She rolled closer to the Hornet, as if for protection.

"Doc?" she asked.

"It's okay, Amber," he told her, "These are nice folk. They won't hurt you. They will protect you if necessary. Excuse us, please."

The residents parted to let Doc and Amber through. He led her to the Cozy Cone where Sally Carrera, the proprietor of the motel, gave her one of the caution cone hotel rooms to spend the night in, free of charge. Amber thought that Sally was nice, but noticed a red racecar sitting beside the Porshe. The Trans Am wondered who he was, then the memory came to her. She turned to the racecar.

"Hey, you're Lightning McQueen, aren't you?" she asked him.

"Yeah," ackowledged the racecar.

"I heard that you pushed The King across the finish line," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, I did," replied Lightning.

"That was awesome," beamed Amber.

"It was the right thing to do," answered Lightning.

"You've got Cone Number 2," said Sally.

Amber found her cone and went in. It looked nice inside. She was suddenly feeling very tired and turned to look at the crowd outside. She smiled at them.

"Thanks," she said, "I'll talk to you all in the morning. Goodnight."

To be continued...