A/N: I hope people are actually watching this. I'm staying up past midnight every night typing this story (and doing homework, and playing video games, and listening to the radio…). But I digress; here's Chapter 3.
The Many Faces of Love: by SneakySneasel
Chapter Three: The New Face of Dinoco
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"Look, this…Guido goes missing at the same time and general area where the criminals I'm after are. They must've taken him as a hostage."
"Whoa…hold on a minute," Lightning interjected. "Isn't that jumping to conclusions a little bit? I mean…it's not possible. Luigi said Guido ran away, so there's no way he was kidnapped."
"And how do you know that? He told you to tell him that he said 'Hi.' and that was it…did I get that right?"
The other three cars nodded.
Lightning sighed. Obviously he was lying, and everyone knew it. Doc shot him a look of dissatisfaction.
"I was going to tell you…but I didn't have the heart. That's why I lied at the last minute. I didn't want to worry you first thing in the morning…" Lightning said disappointedly.
Sally sighed, "It's ok, Stickers. That's not important right now. What's important now is that we find him; wherever he went."
"But that's the problem! We have no clue where he went," Lightning spat out. "I mean, there are no clues or anything as to what happened."
"That's exactly why I'm staying here. I'm a police officer, surely I can solve this," Shirley said with confidence.
"Now don't get too full of yourself," Doc stated. "You can stay here and looks for clues, but don't get too full of yourself. That's what happened to Lightning, and that's why he didn't win the Piston Cup," he finished, slightly amused how she kind of reminded him of Sheriff when Doc had first arrived in Radiator Springs himself.
"Yeah, but if I had won, neither I nor Shirley would be here, and Guido wouldn't be missing," Lightning countered.
Suddenly, an idea struck Lightning, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"Sally, Shirley, can I speak with the two of you in private, if Doc doesn't mind."
"Sure, go ahead kid," Doc said, uncertain why he couldn't discuss whatever he wanted to discuss with him.
"Alright," the two girls said, and they followed Lightning behind the Cozy Cone. Once behind it, Lightning cleared his throat.
"Ok, let's get straight to the point. Sally, you want to go to the party with us, right?"
"Yeah."
"And Shirley, you want to stay here and help find Guido, right?"
"Of course."
"Then have Shirley run the Cozy Cone, and Sally come with us."
"Lightning…that may be…the best idea you ever came up with, which is saying a lot," Sally sort of complimented. "Let's do it."
The three of them went back to the front to find that Sheriff had joined Doc and were discussing the Guido missing situation.
"Oh hey Sheriff," Sally greeted.
Sheriff didn't say a word. He was too busy staring at Shirley, and was too nervous to say anything.
Lightning mouthed the word "Relax," and Sheriff nodded slowly.
"Hey everybody!" Sheriff suddenly said, perhaps a bit too uppity.
Everyone stared at him, while Lightning tire-palmed his forehood.
"Um…ahem, if you need me, I'll be looking for clues…on the other side of town." Sheriff immediately left, zooming off away from the small group or cars.
"Is he always like that?" Shirley asked.
"Only when he's in love apparently…" Lightning muttered.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing!"
The four cars discussed what the plan was. Lightning would go to the party with Doc, and Sally would tail about ten minutes behind; this part was unknown to anyone but Lightning, as he never told anyone but Sally, and he told her that he and Doc would talk about racing strategies, and didn't want Sally to be bored to death.
Shirley would assume command of the Cozy Cone, and when she had time, she would search around town, maybe even past town a bit, for any clue as to where Guido might have gone to.
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"Alright everyone, take care!" Sally called out as the entire town waved goodbye. Doc and Lightning had already left about fifteen minutes ago. "Don't worry; I'll catch up to them in no time!" She was already over the horizon after she finished saying that.
The hours passed with little interference from traffic, since the two of them took the old Route 66. They talked about the how they thought the party would go and the recent turn of events.
"Hey Doc?"
"Yeah?"
"If the Greek invented yogurt, why did they give it a Turkish name?"
"Kid…that's just one of the many mysteries on this here Earth."
Well, close enough.
Sally was closing in on them, wondering how this whole party/ceremony thing would turn out. "Think of all the celebrities that will be there, maybe even Leonardo de Carprio will be there." She started reminiscing of when she was a teenager, and that she and all her girlfriends had a massive crush on him.
After a couple days of traveling, the three of them arrived at L.A. Sally was still a few minutes behind, like Lightning told her to do.
"Remember kid," said Doc at the night of the event. "We're leaving as soon as this ends."
"Yeah, yeah…relax. You're too uptight, you know that."
Doc just rolled his eyes as the two of them arrived at the front of the place where the events were taking place. Sally came up behind them a few minutes later.
"Sally? Sally! What the heck are you doing here?" Doc asked.
"Doc…you feeling ok? You said I could come, remember?"
"I don't remember even thinking about saying such a thing," Doc shouted over the crowd that finally noticed they were here. The paparazzi kept shooting pictures and asking questions, but with no response.
"But…you said…Lightning said…Lightning," Sally and Doc both gave Lightning a look that would split him in two. After a few moments, Lightning squealed.
"Ok, I admit it! I made a fake invitation and gave one of the real ones to Sally because I really wanted her to come!"
Doc was about to say something very inappropriate when the crowd vanished and swarmed around a familiar car: Strip Weathers.
"I'm about to settle this right now…" Doc grumbled.
"No, Doc, wait! She's here; she might as well go," Lightning pleaded.
Doc didn't bother dignifying that with a response, he drove through the crowd, honking his horn, looking about as ornery as he's even been in his life. The paparazzi were rudely pushed out of the way, angry that they were being pushed aside so easily.
Strip was curious as why there was a gap forming and getting closer to him. The last of the cars got out of the way and Doc was finally face to face with Mr. Weathers.
"Well if it isn't the Fabulous Hudson Hornet," Strip declared.
Doc, trying to hide his anger greeted Strip in a similar matter, and then said, "Can I please have a moment of your time.
"Sure, what do you need me for?"
"Just need to prove a young hothead wrong," Doc said, leading Strip towards Lightning and Sally.
"Howdy, Lightning," Strip greeted.
"Strip, tell Lightning how many invitations we were supposed to receive," Doc requested.
"Three," Strip simply stated.
"See Lightning? He only gave us…wait, what?"
"I gave your friend three invitations. Y'know, in case you wanted to bring a friend alone. Looks like you did," Strip said, gesturing towards Sally.
It took Lightning every fiber of his being not to laugh in Doc's face that Doc was wrong for perhaps the first time ever. Sally was just as surprised, and Doc seemed to just stare off in space.
"Well, come on then," Strip commanded, completely dubious to the situation. "The awards are about to start."
Doc, Lightning, and Sally showed their invitations to the front-gate guards and followed Strip in. Inside was a very large theater with a huge front stage. All the other cars were in their seats, and the four of them sat in their seats in the front row.
The awards ceremony went excellently. Plenty of popular singers were there, and plenty of awards were given. Lightning won "Rookie of the Year" and "Most Popular", and Doc got runner-up for "Crew Chief of the Year" even though he was only crew chief for one race. Strip's crew chief won the award.
Finally, after all the awards were distributed, Strip went up to the stage for the closing statement.
"First off, I would like to thank all of you for coming. Second, I'd like to thank the Dinoco company for such a great career. I wouldn't be here today without all of their help. Lastly, and definitely the most surprising news…as you all know, I'm officially retired and will need someone to carry the Dinoco torch."
"Oh no…" Lightning muttered. He had turned Dinoco down, which he thought meant that Chick Hicks would get it, even though he clearly didn't deserve it. (A/N: Who would name their son Chick? I kind of feel bad for him; he must've gotten beaten up a lot at school.) But if Chick didn't get the deal, then who did?
"I am proud to present the newest driver for Dinoco, runner up in this year's Italy I-A Series, (A/N: I-a means it's the most popular one, like how for NASCAR it's the Nextel Cup.) my son…Hank Weathers.
The crowd went silent. Strip was right, this (i)was(/i) surprising, but as quickly as the silence came, the crowd went into applause.
"What did he say?" Lightning asked Doc, making sure he was hearing things right. At this time, a young, light blue racecar rolled up from offstage up to next to his father. They looked almost exactly alike, except the younger one had no rear spoiler. Strip exited stage left, leaving the seventeen year old racecar to fend for himself.
He cleared his throat, and then went up to the mike and said, "Thank you, thank you." The applause finally died down.
"Now, I was just as surprised as all of you when I found out I would be the newest driver for Dinoco, but I'm not going to let it get to my head…I hope," he started, the audience chuckling a bit. "Following in my dad's footsteps won't be easy. I mean, 7 Piston Cups and 200 wins…I don't think anyone will ever top that; however, I'm going to do my best and make my father and Dinoco proud."
The audience cheered, and the awards ceremony was officially over. The actual party was across the street, and Doc, Lightning, and Sally did attend for a little bit, but left after an hour.
"Oh, come on, why can't we stay longer?" Lightning whined.
Once again, Doc didn't dignify that with a response. He was way too mad at him to say anything to him.
"Man, that was crazy," Sally interjected, trying to change the subject. "Lightning, how can you say you like those kind of parties. It's way too crowded!"
"Eh, you get used to it, I guess."
"We're staying at a motel, and then leaving first thing tomorrow morning," Doc said through gritted teeth.
Lightning didn't want to argue with him. It was too late for any kind of drama. "Fine. Lead the way."
Sally sighed. She knew if they didn't get along soon, there's no way they'd win the Piston Cup next year, or even if Doc will be his coach next season.
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A/N: Chapter 3 is completed! Will Lightning and Doc ever get along? How is Strip's son, Hank, going to do in the Piston Cup? Will Guido ever be found? Find out next chapter. Until then, goodbye.