Ch.3: Target Locked

The big race was finally here, and Lightning was more than ready to take Francesco down. Excited cheers reigned through the stands, as the green light flashed on signaling the racers to go.

Wind screaming againist his face and the joy of competetion fueling his drive, Lightning McQueen used his skills to the max to catch up with the elusive Francesco. From the pit, donned in the Crew Chief's offical microphone and headphones, Mater was watching the whole race through a gaint plasma screen.

Every Crew Chief had been given one of these screens so they could keep an eye on their racers and the track. This way the Crew Chief's could tell their racers what to expect and how to best handle the situation.

As the race headed past the bridge and downtown, Lightning and Francesco were neck and neck. It didn't seem there would be a chance for Lightning to get past the sporty Italian car, until Mater grinned at the section of track up ahead. Soon all the racers were hot-wheeling in the dirt.

"McQueen it's time to make your move" said Mater into his microphone " get on the outside and show them what Doc done taught ya,"

"Ten four Mater," came Lightning's response.

As the dirt section came up, Franceso hit it with to much speed and started sliding to matian control. Lightning grinned as he made his move and slipped past Francesco with ease. Now Lightning was leading the charge while Franceso was eating the dust.

"Great call Mater" said Lightning " keep it up,"

Mater smiled at Lightning's praise. To tell the truth, he didn't think he would be quite the Crew Chief Doc was, but he was trying, and so far it looked like he was doing a good job.


Meanwhile, from her HQ, Holley was watching the race on her own private T.V. screen, looking for anything usual in the mist. So far, everything seemed to be normal, until that is, she spotted quite an array of Professor Z's agents roaming around.

Instantly, she contacted Finn, who was on the way to the race, and told him what she discovered. Finn immediately asked who they seemed to be going after. When she checked her screen, Holley gasped to see the American she had met at the party last night standing in one of the pits.

"It's the American agent" said Holley to Finn " thier after him!"

"Get him out of there!" yelled Finn " I'm on my way!"

Quickly, Holley hacked into Mater's headphone frequency surprising the rusty tow truck. The instant Mater recgonized who was talking to him, he fell instantly into a love chat, ignoring the dire warning Holley was trying to deliveir him.

Holley was getting frustrated at Mater's lack of attention and ordered him to get out of the pit. Assuming that Holley was asking him on a date, Mater drove out of the pit in order to redevous with the love of his life. Leaving Lightning to carry on the race alone.


As Mater left the pit, Grem and Acer were on their way to silence Mater once and for all, when suddenly Finn came in to stop them. Turning one of his tires into a razor-edged blade, Finn charged at the two lemons and started to fight.

Mater was fixin' to drive past the alley, when all the commotion caught his ear and he turned to look.

"Wow" he thought " a karate demonstration,"

Forgetting all about his supposed date with Holley, Mater just watched in amazement as Finn continued to battle againist Grem and Acer. For a moment, it looked like the silver, spy car was gaining the upper hand, until Grem pulled a sneaky move, and Acer moved in to finish the car off.

Seeing that kind of dirty play motivated Mater to step in with his tow line and throw Acer away. Grem growled at Mater for a split-second before retreating with his flung partner. As soon as the two lemons were gone Mater turned his attention to Finn.

"Are you ok buddy?" asked Mater.

"Yes" said Finn, getting up " thank you my friend,"

Before the converstation could continue further, fireworks shot up into the air, and cheers rang loud catching both cars attention. Shock registered on Mater's face as he realized what all of this could mean, said a quick goodbye to Finn, and dashed back to the race to see who had won.

What he saw was not a very joyous sight, Lightning McQueen had lost.