Disclaimer: I do not own Cars, nor do I own any of the characters associated with Cars. The only charrie I own (at least, thus far) is Reny. Cars belongs to Pixar; not me!
Lightning awoke that morning, a rush of blurred images flashing before his eyes. At first, he had trouble sorting them out, until, with a jolt a realization, he remembered the events of the day before.
"Reny!" he shouted, catapulting up from the floor of the trailer and into the south wall. Ignoring the jolt of pain one gets from crashing into your own bobble head, Lightning pressed the lever that swung open his trailer door; his tires made no sound as he slid down the smooth metal of the ramp his door had provided, his eyes combing the area in anticipation. Only when his tires touched the hard asphalt below did he remember that he had no idea where Reny had gone off to. Moving more slowly across the pavement, Lightning's blue eyes searched through every crack and crevice big enough for a small car to hide in; still no Reny. Disappointment washed over him like a cloud, his tires squeaking as he turned to drive another direction.
It was when Lightning was searching a more remote section of the track that he caught a flash of sticker-laden green just behind him. 'Chick.' he thought, as he turned around. 'Who's he bullying this time?'
Lightning was broadside to the two cars, and as he moved closer, he caught sight of Junior's number eight as it flashed in the sun. Chick had backed Junior against a wall, preventing the young racer from escaping. The Monte Carlo's bumper had recently been dented, a battle scar Chick himself had caused in Sunday's race. Lightning slipped closer, enabling him to hear what the green racer wanted with the younger car.
"Wreck again, Junior?" Chick taunted, gesturing to Junior's bumper.
"You should know, Chick." Junior replied, coolly. "You caused it."
"You like the wall, Junior?" Chick sneered. "You'll end up just like your daddy, you will! All that fame couldn't save him in the end, could it?"
Junior's grille went blank with shock, his tires locking up as though they'd been frozen by the chill of Chicks' words.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lightning saw a flash of light against silver metal, as Reny appeared from nowhere. In a blur of silver motion, the little Mustang hurtled across the steaming asphalt in the direction of the two cars.
"Hey, back off, bozo!" she snapped, her battered silver body sliding between Chick and Junior with the rubbery sound of tires against pavement. Her voice carried the distinct hint of a snarl, her hazel-green eyes narrowed in a special brand of revulsion Lightning had not yet witnessed.
The green stock car glared at the little Mustang, disgust curling his mustache as he sneered. "What are you, his security guard?"
Reny snarled, her engine revving angrily. "What are you, the official idiot of the sport?"
Chick's sneer became more pronounced, his engine revving to match the Mustang's challenge. "Well, at least I'm not some pint-sized pipsqueak with a big mouth!" he snarled brutally. "I could crush you like a child's toy with all four of my wheels locked up!"
Reny's eyes became mere slits, her tires shifting back and forth as Chick taunted her. A small smile began to play around her grille, and Lightning was struck by her simple disregard to the green cars' threat.
"I'm not so easy to crush, Chick, not matter how puny I may be."
Chick chuckled disbelievingly.
VRRRROOOOOMMMM!
Reny revved her engine, so loudly that several racers across the track heard its' guttural snarl, and turned toward the tumult of sound. Chick, surprised at the sheer volume produced by the Mustang's engine, rolled back several yards, his eyes wide. Reny smirked at his astonishment, the corners of her grille pulled up in loathing for the green car.
Chick snarled and backed away, turning around and shooting off in a cloud of sparks and break dust.
Junior rolled up to Reny's right, the purr of his engine a whisper after her tumult of sound. For a moment they sat in companionable silence, gratitude pouring from Junior in waves as he glanced at Reny from the corner of his eye; the silver Mustang was staring at the spot Chick had recently vacated, her hazel-green eyes clouded over.
"Reny?"
"Hmmmm?" she replied, her eyes rolling to Junior.
"You sure that's not a Shelby engine under that hood of yours?"
Reny blinked sadly, her chassis singing lower to the pavement. "The engine may be there, I don't know; but what about the body?"
Looking at her small, battered frame, Lightning couldn't help agreeing with her, no matter how much his mind wanted to deny it was true.
After saying goodbye to RPM, Leakless, and Junior, Reny followed Mack on the long journey to Radiator Springs. There had been enough room in Lightning's trailer for the two cars (due in part to Reny's small size, although Lightning was smart enough not to point that out), but Reny said she'd drive, in order to work the kinks out of her axels. So they started off, the hubbub of post weekend activity fading away behind them.
Late afternoon had arrived by the time the two cars made it to the booming little town. Lightning arrived first, sliding down the ramp with his customary greeting of, "Ka-Chow!" Sally, her blue paint gleaming in the late afternoon sun, slipped to Lightning's side in order to nuzzle his fender. "How did it go?" she murmured softly. Lightning's eyes grew soft, and he nudged her fender gently. "Oh, very well, very well: In fact, there's someone I'd like you to meet!"
Sally glanced at him playfully; she seemed genuinely curious. "Oh, really: Who?"
VVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
Reny shot past the greeting party in a blaze of gleaming silver, her engine snarling stridently as she carried on down the road.
"Ah," chuckled Lightning, nervously. "I'll be right back…" Tires squealing, Lightning shot off in pursuit of the runaway Mustang.
It took several minutes for Lightning to catch up to Reny, whose engine was screaming with the effort of going 163 miles per hour. When he managed to pull up beside her, he had to shout in order to be heard over the deafening sound of twin engines at top speed.
"Reny!" he shouted his motor burning with the effort of shouting and driving at the same time. "Where are you going?!"
"Ah," gasped Reny, her hazel-green eyes wide with shock. "I can't stop! I think my brakes are shot!"
"Hang on!" Lightning yelled. Slipping to his right, Lightning shoved Reny lightly until her tires hit the gravel just off the side of the road. Having slowed down enough to turn around, Reny followed Lightning back to the small gathering of cars in front of Flo's.
Mater had only just shown up, and it was he who first noticed the battered young Mustang driving behind Lightning. "Well hi, Lightnin'! Who's yer purty new friend?"
Lightning chuckled. "Hey, Mater. This is Reny."
Mater was thrilled. "Well hullo thur, Ren-y!" the rust tow truck beamed. "Name's Mater: Yuh know, like 'tuh-mater', but without the 'tuh'!"
Reny giggled. "It's nice to meet you, Mater. It's nice to meet everyone!" She glanced down, suddenly shy, her right tire twisting in the dust.
Doc chuckled, softly. "That was quite some show you put on there, kid." Reny blinked, muttering something about "brake problems." Doc laughed. "Come in tomorrow, and I'll fix 'em for you."
Flo shoved her way to the front of the queue, her eyes flicking over Reny's battered frame. "Honey, when was the last time you had something to drink?"
Reny sunk down closer to the pavement. "A while." She murmured, softly.
One hour later, the town's main populace was crammed around Reny; their eyes were wide with shock, as Reny finished her fifth can of oil. Looking up from the pavement, the silver Mustang was bemused by their awed expressions. "What?" she asked, her brow twisting. "It's been a while."
Sally rolled forward, her green eyes soft. "Why don't you take cone number 4? It's yours as long as you stay here." She bumped Reny lightly with her fender. "Go on; it's ten-o'clock."
Reny blinked gratefully, her grille split by a huge yawn. Her engine purring softly, she rolled out of Flo's, her tail lights' gleaming as she rolled down the street.
The sound of Reny's engine died away, leaving a peaceful silence in her wake. Sally slipped closer to Lightning, whose eyes were fixed down the road where Reny had disappeared; she touched his fender lightly with her own.
"So, where'd you find her?"
Lightning glanced down at Sally, who seemed genuinely curious. "At the track." He murmured, quietly. "She'd been living there for a while."
Flo broke in. "Well, where'd she come from?"
Lightning sighed. "She ran away."
"Ran away!" gasped Sally. "Why?"
"She wasn't happy there!" Lightning gasped desperately. "She's been planning to run away since she was eleven!"
"Eleven?" Flo asked.
Sally narrowed her eyes. "So that makes her…"
"15."
"She sure don't look 15!" Flo muttered. "She's too small!"
"Yah, well, I believe her." murmured Lightning, softly.
"We'll see in the morning, when she gets cleaned up." soothed Sally. "It's hard to tell anything through those dents and all that grime."
Sally and Flo slipped away, leaving Lightning to stare broodingly at the road. The light from the neon sign above shone down on him, throwing his racing paint into odd releif as he narrowed his blue eyes is defiance. "It doesn't matter that she's small." Lightning whispered to himself. "I believe her."
The Proper Pronunciation of
Reny. Ren-e
Notes: Ha-ha, first thing's first. I will not be updating as soon as I did with this chapter. Why? Well, for one thing, next week is going to be really busy for me. Two, when I wrote this chapter, I already knew what was going to happen; the scene with Chick was one of the first things I thought of in this fic. All I know for chapter three is that Reny gets her brakes fixed, and her paint re-done. ;)
One more thing; before all you Chick fans decide to hunt me down with pitchforks, keep in mind that this is a fan-fic. I have nothing against Chick. It just so happened that he was having a bad day. ')