CHAPTER ONE

A/N: Here it is!! The long awaited sequel! Also, many thanks to NikChik-11 for the support she offered! I posted this a little early for ya!!

Disclaimer: No matter how many times I have to tell you, I DON'T OWN CARS!!!!!!!!!! Ok, I'm good…

Lightning McQueen headed into his last lap of the Dakota 500, neck and neck with his long-time rival, Chick Hicks. Lightning pressed his engine further and inched ahead of Chick.

"That's it, Kiddo!" said Doc Hudson, Lightning's trainer and crew chief. "Keep going!"

"I'm-trying!" Lightning panted.

"Don't try, do!" Doc replied through the intercom system.

Lightning pulled ahead of Chick further and headed into the last turn. He used the corner of the track as a slingshot and accelerated heading into the last stretch of the tedious race. He flew down the straight and finished the race ahead of Chick by at least two car lengths.

"Yes!" Lightning shouted.

"Great job, Rookie!" Doc said, sounding incredibly satisfied. "That's a great way to start a new season."

Lightning laughed. "Thanks," he said.

Lightning had just started his seventeenth season in the Piston Cup circuit. He was undefeated when it came to winning the championship for the last fifteen years.

Lightning drove into victory lane and accepted his award, grinning to his thousands of fans that had traveled from near and far to watch him race. He said a few words to the audience and drove back to his pit-area where Doc was already packing up their trailers.

"Good job, Rookie," Doc said. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Doc," Lightning said, grinning. "But you can hardly call me a rookie anymore, can you?"

"The name sticks," Doc replied.

"I figured as much," Lightning said. He had been trying to dissuade Doc from using the nickname for about three years, but it never worked, and it probably never would. "I'm just ready to go home now."

"Ready to see two special some ones?" Doc asked, smiling over at Lightning.

"You could say that," Lightning said, returning the smile. He knew Doc was referring to Sally, his wife of almost sixteen years, and his daughter, Rayne, who was fifteen.

"I want to train Rayne," Doc said.

"She's a girl, Doc," Lightning said, putting some of his belongings in his trailer. "She won't race."

"Why not?" Doc asked. "She's got your speed and mentality, which I'm not sure is the greatest thing, but she would be an amazing racer!"

"Rayne would get hurt," Lightning said. "And Storm is going to cause problems."

Storm Hicks was Chick's son who was already known for causing problems in the junior leagues.

"She can take care of herself," Doc said. "She wants to race, Kiddo. Rayne will make history for being the first female racer."

"That's another reason I don't want her on the track," Lightning said. "It's a male-dominant sport. The other racers will be all over her!"

"Just think about it," Doc replied.

"I have," Lightning sighed. "I just don't want her to get in a wreck like I did."

Lightning was in a horrific wreck in his second season of racing that sidelined him for the rest of the year. It was still considered the worst wreck in racing history.

"I can't promise that," Doc said. "But a vast majority of cars get through their whole careers without being in a serious wreck."

"I know," Lightning said. "But I don't think Sally would like it that much either."

"Just talk it over with her," Doc said. "I think Rayne would love it. She's already a huge fan."

"I know she would love it," Lightning sighed. "It's just me that doesn't want her to."

"I know," Doc said. "But we'd put her into the Piston Cup Junior League before she goes into the Piston Cup circuit."

"I'll think about it," Lightning said uneasily. He wanted Rayne to do what she loved, but he was nervous about what it would lead to.

The next day, Lightning arrived in Radiator Springs, where he would be staying for three days before he left for his next race. He unloaded his trailer and drove to his house, which was situated next door to the Cozy Cone motel.

Lightning drove up onto the porch and through the front door. He smelled food cooking from the kitchen and drove into it to find Sally reading a cookbook.

"Hey," Lightning said.

"Hey!" Sally said, driving up to her husband and hugging him. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Lightning said, kissing his wife. "Even though it was only a week."

"A week is a long time sometimes," Sally said. "Congratulations by the way."

"Oh, thanks," Lightning said, smiling, though the smile faded quickly. "Listen, Sally, we need to talk."

"About what?" Sally asked, a concerned expression on her face.

"Rayne," Lightning responded.

"What about her?" Sally asked.

"Doc wants her to race," Lightning sighed.

"As do I," Sally said.

"You too?" Lightning groaned. "I was hoping you were going to back me up against Doc!"

Sally laughed softly. "Of course I want her to race. It's in her blood. She's fast, smart, and she's the most hard-headed car I know, other than her father of course."

"True," Lightning agreed, smiling. "I'm just afraid she'll get hurt."

"Listen to you," Sally said, grinning. "That's probably the most hypocritical statement I have ever heard. It's normal to worry, believe me, but we don't want to be like your parents. She would probably run away to race like you did, and we don't need to have a dysfunctional family."

"That's true," Lightning said. "I didn't think about that. But I could never forgive myself if she got hurt."

"Don't I get a say in this?" came a voice from behind Lightning. Rayne McQueen drove through the kitchen door and parked beside her father. The lights from the kitchen reflected from her black paint with electric blue flames running down the side.

"Of course you do," Sally said. "You want to race, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Rayne said. "I've told dad that before. Do I get to race in the Piston Cup circuit?"

"Eventually," Lightning said quickly. "First, you have to qualify for it in the Piston Cup Junior League. Technically, you can't race in the Piston Cup circuit until you're-"

"Sixteen," Rayne interrupted. "I know, I know."

"I figured you did," Lightning said. "But I don't want you getting hurt like I did."

"Well, you were being stupid when you got hurt," Rayne said bluntly.

"Thanks," Lightning said, surprised at his daughter's lack of tact.

"Well you were," Rayne said. "You knew you shouldn't have taken that risk."

"She has a point," Sally said, smiling at her husband.

"Okay, okay," Lightning said. "Enough criticizing me. You have my temperament, Rayne. You could do the same thing."

"But I won't, Dad," Rayne insisted. "Please let me race."

"Okay," Lightning gave in. "But you're going to have to listen to Doc and me when you're training."

"Yes!" Rayne exclaimed. She threw herself upon his father, hugging him tightly. "Thanks, Dad!"

She began to leave the room before saying, "Oh yeah, good win yesterday!"

"Thanks, Hun," Lightning said, but Rayne was already gone.

"Do you think she'll make it to the Piston Cup?" Sally asked.

"Yes," Lightning said, frowning. "All I know is my racing days are numbered now."

"I didn't even think of that," Sally said. "Just tell her you're not ready to retire yet."

Lightning shrugged. "I'm almost thirty-seven years old, Sally," he said. "I'm getting to be old news in the racing industry."

"That's not true," Sally said. "You still have a lot left in you."

"Not that much," Lightning sighed. "My wreck is catching up with me. I've been getting sore more. I think it's just around retirement season anyway, even though I hate it."

"How many more seasons?" Sally asked quietly.

"This one," Lightning said. "I'm not racing against Rayne. That would be too weird."

Sally shook her head. "Rayne's career can wait," she said. "This is your time, not hers."

Lightning shrugged. "This season is Chick's last one because of Storm. He's Rayne's age."

Sally drove up to Lightning. "As long as you're sure," she said.

"I am," Lightning said. He kissed Sally and grinned pitifully. "I guess we're going to have to face it. The Lightning McQueen era is coming to a close."

"Well if Rayne doesn't make it to the Piston Cup circuit you can keep going," Sally said.

"Nah," Lightning said. "I don't want to race against Storm anyway. Can you imagine if he beat me in a race? Besides, I'm getting old, remember?"

"If you're getting old, what does that make me?" Doc asked, rolling into the McQueen's kitchen.

"Ancient," Lightning replied, grinning. "But we're letting Rayne race, and when she gets on the Piston Cup circuit next year, I'm retiring."

Doc nodded. "Smart choice," he said. "Does the kid know she can race?"

"Oh yeah," Lightning said. "I think the whole world knows by now."

Doc laughed. "She's excited, huh?" he asked.

"That's an understatement," Lightning said. He then frowned. "I'm going to miss it though."

Doc nodded. "I know how you feel."

"Fair point," Lightning said, nodding. "Do you honestly think Rayne will be a competitor in the Piston Cup?"

"We'll find out, won't we?" Doc asked. "I think so. She's a good mixture of you and Sally build-wise, which will make her more aerodynamic than you are. You have a top-of-the-line racing engine, and most cars inherit their engines from their fathers. As I said before, Rayne has your mentality, which is potentially problematic, but I'm fairly used to it by now."

Lightning laughed. "Yeah, but she's going to want to start training tomorrow bright and early."

"We can do that," Doc said. "You both have training tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Lightning said. "Does that mean I have to wake up earlier than usual?"

"I'll let you train after her, Sleeping Beauty," Doc said. "That way you'll have time to wake up."

"Fine," Lightning said. "Six on the practice track?"

"Sure," Doc said, heading out of the kitchen door.

"Bye, Doc," Lightning said.

"See you later, Rookie," Doc said.

"And I was looking forward to actually sleeping," Lightning sighed, leaning up against Sally.

Sally laughed and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry," she said.

The next morning, Lightning's alarm went off at five-thirty. He groaned and slowly rolled out of bed, trying not to wake Sally, and into the shower. At five forty-five, Lightning rolled up the ramp that led to the second story of the house. Lightning rolled into Rayne's room and parked just inside the door.

"Come on, Miss Future Racecar!" Lightning called. "It's time to train!"

"I'm already ahead of you," came Rayne's voice from behind Lightning.

"Oh you are, huh?" Lightning asked, turning around to face his daughter.

"Yeah," Rayne said. "Which track are we using this morning? Willy's Butte or the practice track?"

"The practice track," Lightning responded. "We never really use Willy's Butte anymore. The footing's not very good."

After Lightning's fifth racing season, he built a small racing stadium for training purposes. It made training much more convenient .

"Okay," Rayne said. "Do you think I can beat Storm Hicks?"

"I think so," Lightning said. "But he is the champion of his division."

"For now," Rayne said confidently.

Lightning chuckled at his daughter's determined personality. "Yeah, for now," he said.

Ten minutes later, Lightning and Rayne arrived at the practice track. Doc was already on the track waiting for the McQueens.

"Okay, Kiddo," Doc called. "Come out on the track. We're working on endurance for now. After your warm-up, go around the track as many times as possible at top speed."

"Okay," Rayne called back. She drove onto the track and did a couple warm-up laps around the track before taking off at top speed.

"How good is her stamina?" Docs asked Lightning, watching Rayne drive into her corners and use them as slingshots down the long side of the track.

"Good," Lightning said. He watched as Rayne used another corner as a slingshot. "It took me forever to learn that move."

"Me too," Doc said. "She's small, so she's really fast too."

"If she's so small then why is she racing?" Lightning asked, watching his daughter rocket around the track again.

"Look at her. She's the best racer in training I've ever seen," Doc said.

"Seriously?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah," Doc said. "How good were you before you hit the Piston Cup circuit?"

"I was good, but not as good as she is," Lightning said. "My family hated racing, remembers? I could only train once a week."

Doc nodded. He watches as Rayne completed her twenty-fifth lap.

"We're going to be here a while, aren't we?" Doc asked.

"Yeah," Lightning said. "I know she can do at least three hundred laps."

"Have you had her out here training before?" Doc asked.

"No," Lightning answered. "She's not supposed to come out here alone, but I've caught her a few times. She did around three hundred laps each time."

Doc nodded. "I guess we'll be here a while," he said.

Two hours later, Rayne completed her four hundredth lap.

"I'm going to make her stop now," Doc said. He drove over to the intercom system and told Rayne to slow down.

"I'm not done yet!" Rayne retorted into her microphone.

"Come on, Kiddo," Doc said. "We're happy with today."

"Fine," Rayne said. She slowed to a stop next to Doc and her father.

"Good work, Kiddo," Doc said.

"Thanks, Doc," Rayne said. "I could have kept going too."

"We know, Rookie," Doc said. "But you don't want to kill yourself the first day of training. You need to save yourself until you build stronger stamina, although you already have a sufficient amount."

"Okay," Rayne said, not looking completely convinced. "If you say so."

"Good," Doc said. "Now head back to Radiator Springs while your father and I talk for a couple minutes."

"Okay," Rayne replied. She revved her engine and shot out of the stadium, kicking up dust as she sped away.

"She's going to be great," Doc said.

"I hope so," Lightning said.

"So," Doc said. "You've been feeling stiff lately?"

"A little," Lightning said. "Just around my wheel axles. No big deal."

"It could be," Doc said. "Instead of you training today I want to check your wheel axle to make sure it's okay."

"Sounds good," Lightning replied. "Do you still get sore from your wreck?"

"Not too bad," Doc said, driving onto the road alongside Lightning. "I'm stiff in the mornings, but you could have more lasting effects. Your race was a lot worse than mine."

"It wasn't that much worse," Lightning replied.

"All I broke was one wheel axle and I had an aluminum replacement," Doc said. "Believe me, your wreck was worse than mine was."

"Maybe," Lightning said. "But either way, wrecks are not fun. That's what worries me about Rayne."

"I know, Kid," Doc said. "But she's definitely knows how to take care of herself."

"Believe me, I know, Lightning answered. "But all the same, I just don't want her to go through what I did."

"I wish I could promise you she wouldn't, Kid," Doc said. "But it's unlikely she'll have a wreck as bad as yours was."

"I know the statistics," Lightning said. "But that one in a hundred chance is too much for me."

"Everything looks good to me," Doc said twenty minutes later. "The scarring will always be bad, but the axle itself looks pretty good."

"Great," Lightning said in a satisfied tone. He did not feel like going through another tedious recovery. He had broken the same wheel axle four times since the initial accident. Once in his first season back after the wreck (right before his wedding), another time in his fourth season back in the circuit, a third time playing with Rayne, and a fourth time two years ago when he was training in the off-season.

"So when are you going to announce it's your last season?" Doc asked.

"I haven't really thought about it to tell you the truth," Lightning said. "I just realized it yesterday."

"Yeah," Doc said. "It'll be hard for you to let go."

"I'll be okay," Lightning said. "Rayne will be racing so I'll still be around the people and the fans. It will be the same except for me actually racing."

"The whole 'you racing' part is what you're going to miss," Doc replied. "It's hard for cars to give it up."

"I will miss it," Lightning admitted. "But I'm getting older, and I think the industry needs some new blood."

"Or a younger version of the same blood," Doc said. "It's probably true though. You've been making racing pretty predictable for sixteen years."

"Well, the broken wheel axles added some excitement," Lightning said, grinning.

"Not really," Doc said. "You still won those seasons too."

"By thinner margins," Lightning countered.

"That's true," Doc said.

"Yeah," Lightning replied. "But as I said earlier, the industry needs some change, and if Rayne gets into the circuit, which she probably will, she'll give the industry the change it needs."

"That's right," Doc said. "I'll have to teach you to crew chief so you can be Rayne's coach."

"I think that will be your job," Lightning said. "You're an accomplished crew chief. I don't want to mess Rayne up."

Doc laughed. "Okay, it can be that way at first, and then we'll get you in as co-crew chief. After that, you should be ready. It's not that hard."

"If you say so," Lightning said. He thought back to when Sally crew was his crew chief for one race in his first season back after his wreck. He did not win that race.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Doc said. "We need to register her for her first race. When is the soonest you want her racing?"

"I'll have to talk to Sally," Lightning replied. "We need to get her into the junior circuit as soon as possible if we want her to qualify for the Piston Cup by the start of next season, but Sally home schools her, so I don't know how that will work out."

"The Piston Cup has a circuit teaching system," Doc said. "We wouldn't be able to come home every other week, but if we leave right after your race, we can get to the next track by Monday. The track school starts Tuesday and it goes through Friday. It starts at eight, and at noon, they train for a couple hours and eat lunch. They get back to work at two and they let out a six."

"That sounds great," Lightning said. "I'll go home and talk to Sally about it. She shouldn't have a problem with any of it."

"Okay," Doc said. "Sheriff has an appointment now. Go home and talk to Sally about what you're going to decide. We could probably get her in as early as this Saturday if you guys are comfortable with that."

"Okay," Lightning said, heading towards the door. "I'll talk to you later then."

"Bye," Doc said as Lightning rolled out of the clinic.

Lightning drove down the street of Radiator Springs, observing his surroundings. It was still early, but the tiny town was beginning to wake up. He saw Rayne talking to Flo over at the diner. Whatever Rayne was saying humored Flo substantially. The middle-aged car's body shook with laughter.

Lighting glanced to his right and saw Mack, still fast asleep. He mumbled something in his slumber. Lightning grinned and drove to the Cozy Cone where he was sure Sally was already at work.

"Hey," Lightning said, driving into the office. He drove around the desk where his wife was situated, kissed her lightly, and allowed her to lean up against him.

"Hey," Sally replied. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much," Lightning replied. "Talking to you about Rayne's racing schedule."

"Oh," Sally said. "Okay. What do we need to discuss?"

"I just have some information to give you," Lightning said.

"Go ahead," Sally said. "I'm listening."

"Well, if we put Rayne in the P.C.J.L., the Piston Cup Junior League, we wouldn't be able to come home every other week because the circuit provides a school for all the racers," Lightning said.

"What kind of school?" Sally asked suspiciously. "I want Rayne to have an excellent education."

"It's just a regular school," Lightning replied. He explained the dynamics of the school to Sally. When he finished, Sally looked fairly satisfied.

"That sounds good," she said. "Now the only problem is I'll never be able to see you guys."

"You can come see us," Lightning said. "Now that Lizzy is gone, only the motel needs looking after, and Flo can do that."

Lizzy passed away about a year and a half previously. She died peacefully of old age.

"That's true," Sally said, a trace of sadness running across her face. Although she never said anything about it, she had had an attachment with Lizzy.

"It's settled then?" Lightning asked. "She can start Saturday?"

"It's settled," Sally said, smiling at her husband.

A/N: Okay, so how do you like it?! I don't really like the title, but it'll have to work. I understand it's probably a little boring now, but it'll get better. Please review, I want everybody who reads this to review so I can understand what I can make adjustments with!!

Also, updates are going to be once a week, give or take a day or two. It's almost Christmas break, so I should get some work done over that...but who knows what my evil teachers will throw on me...