Just as she was dozing off, there was a thud at the door. She blinked her eyes open sleepily, momentarily wondering why the car at the door didn't come in. She heard Nikki get off the couch and roll the door up. She heard him call out to her, but didn't hear what he said. "Nikki, who is it?" She called back.
"Red!" She heard faintly, and she smiled before getting up, pulling the blanket over her shoulders. She was still in sleep mode, and trudged out to the door in her slippers. There she found Red, who gave her a smile. "Hi, Red. Hey, that book is really good! Thanks for getting it for me." She gave him a smile, giggling as he blushed and scuffed a tire on the ramp bashfully. "Oh, you silly truck." She giggled, coming towards him and giving his front a hug.
He picked her up and hugged her, cradling her in his grasp.
"I really need to make a cloning machine, that way you can have a me all to yourself to hug all you want." She giggled, and he looked at her eagerly. "I guess I need to make that machine then, if I've already got a customer."
He grinned guiltily, and Foxy laughed.
"Oh, Red. For now, there's just one of me, and I don't mind." She snuggled against his front, purring quietly.
"Wow, Foxy. You sure like hugs."
"I sure do, Nikki. That's because Red gives the best hugs." She looked up at the fire truck with a smile, and he nuzzled her before setting her down again. "Thanks for stopping by, Red." She gave him another smile, and he returned it before nudging her inside gently. "Okay, I'm going. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
He nodded, and departed after seeing her inside.
She laid down on the couch again, and Nikki returned to his spot, curled up against her stomach. He seemed to be enthralled by cartoons, and Foxy just watched him for a while, smiling slightly. Eventually, she began dozing off again, and didn't hear Lightning come in. When he nudged her hand, she jumped up like she had been shocked. "Whoa... Hi Light."
He chuckled, then deposited a cup by her side.
"I think I've had enough coffee in the past week to last me through the month."
"It's not coffee. Fillmore told me to give it to you. He said you liked it."
Confused, she took a sip, only to find that it was hot chocolate with cinnamon and brown sugar. She smiled, then nodded. "He was right. It used to be one of my favorite drinks, but he wouldn't know that unless... Little shit! He read my diary!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Lightning started laughing, and Nikki turned to look at her in surprise.
"POTTYMOUTH!" He exclaimed at the top of his voice, and Lightning laughed again.
"Nikki, I didn't mean it, it just slipped out, I-"
"Too late. You can't take it back." Lightning replied, grinning.
"I'll clean your clock, boy!" She growled, and he laughed.
"Yeah, Okay."
"Oh, go away. We're watching cartoons."
Lightning laughed, then muscled his way onto the couch, trying to taunt Foxy. "Really, can I watch too? I haven't seen this one in forever!"
"Lightning!" She exclaimed, giving him a playful shove.
He laughed, and began tickling her.
"Okay, okay, OKAY! I'm sorry!"
"That's better." In a flash, he had licked her, then he was gone, leaving her fuming and trying to scrub his spit off herself.
"I'll get him back for this!" She growled, still scrubbing. "You should be glad that you don't have a big brother, Nikki. Otherwise, I don't know what I'd do."
"But you and Lightning don't look the same. How are you his little sister?"
"I'm adopted."
"Ohhhhh... Let's watch some tv." He replied, snuggling back into her stomach and facing the tv.
Foxy giggled, then hugged him before laying down again. The last thing she remembered was watching an animated nut dance across the screen with an animated bolt in a goofy, animated version of the tango. After that, her brain was too clouded with sleep to comprehend anything. She somewhat remembered rolling over to face the back of the couch, but she hadn't bothered to open her eyes. As she fell into an even deeper sleep, she began to dream. And what a strange dream it was.
Somehow, she had ended back in her own world, in her own neighborhood. Instinctively, she ran for the garage, only to find her father's Corvette was gone. 'Okay, Max is probably just back in Radiator Springs. No biggie.' She went inside, and found that her mother was counting over a large quantity of bills. "Where'd you get all that money?"
"Don't you remember? The man that I sold the Corvette to felt bad since Dad was gone, so he gave us an extra thousand for it."
Foxy could feel her face pale quickly as she tried to comprehend the response. "Y-You sold the Corvette?"
"That's what I just told you. But don't worry, I saved that picture for you that you wanted."
"Oh... thanks." She replied slowly. She walked up the steps, to her room. The first thing she did, was look for the picture. It had been blown up into a poster-sized picture, and she had said that she wanted it. However, as she glanced up into the mirror above her dresser, she gasped.
Her hair was back to its old, reddish color, and length. And her ears were gone. She quickly reached behind her, grabbing frantically. Her tail was gone too. "Was it all a dream? Did any of that really happen?" As soon as she said it, there was a bright flash outside her window, and when she dashed to it, she couldn't believe her eyes.
In the driveway was Nikki, looking around in confusion. She darted out her open window, jumped onto her roof, then onto the hill in her front yard. From there, she walked under the tree that stood in front of her yard, and went over to meet him. "Psst! Nikki!" She whispered to him, and he looked over her way.
"Who are you?"
"It's me, Foxy. This is what I used to look like, without my tail or ears, and before my hair was dyed."
"Ohhh. I like the red and yellow better."
"Thanks. I do too." At a scream behind her, she turned to find her mother. "Mom?!"
"What is that thing?! Certainly not a car?!"
"He isn't a car, mom. He's a truck. And he's an orphan. I rescued him."
"I don't care! IT will not be anywhere near here! I'm going in to call the authorities! You stay here and make sure it doesn't go anywhere!"
"But mom, he isn't-"
"Don't talk back!" And with that, her mother was gone.
"Nikki, you've got to get outta here, now. There's a park a few miles away from here that you should be able to hide in, but stay in the forest. You can take the roads, but the speed limit is twenty five miles an hour, so stay under that. You're going to go down there-" she pointed down her road that led to the main road, "Then take a left. You're going to stay on the road until you get to a four-way intersection with a bar, a pizzeria, a row of hedges, and a tanish-yellow house with a fence. You're going to take the right there, right between the bar and the pizzeria. When you get to the top of the hill, you're going to see a sign for the park, it'll be maroon and gold. It's going to look like a driveway, but just keep going down it until you see a big building without sides. Behind that is the woods, and hide well. Climb a tree if you have to. You'll know it's me because I'll howl, meow, then hiss. Nobody else can make all those noises like I can, so remember where you're supposed to turn, and get outta here."
He ran through what she had just told him, and drove towards the exit.
She heard him turn left, and sighed.
"Where'd it go?! I just saw it!"
"Saw what, mom?"
"The truck with eyes and a mouth!"
"Are you sure you've been sleeping enough? It doesn't sound like it..."
"I've been sleeping fine." She snapped, then mumbled something about calling off the authorities before going back inside.
As soon as she went back inside, Foxy heard the sounds of the local police coming. What she saw shocked her.
They had Nikki bound tightly by ropes and chains, and had placed a large amount of duct tape over his mouth. "Does this thing look familiar to you?"
"We saw it leave your yard, and we had a call from your residence about something like this."
"Let him go, please. He's only a child."
"Only a child? This thing is an alien!"
"Please, you can't do this!"
"You have confirmed that it is familiar, and thus, it will be destroyed."
"WHAT?! NO! NIKKI!"
Her mother held her back as she lunged for the nearest officer. "No! You let them do their jobs!"
Foxy struggled in her mother's grasp, but it was no use. "NOOOO! NIKKIII!"
With a gasp, Foxy was pulled into the present time as she sat bolt upright. Her head whirled from left to right, unsure of where she was. Was she at home? Or was she back where she wanted to be?
"Foxy, Foxy, calm down!"
"Mom?"
Hearing that assured her that she was where she wanted to be, although she was still extremely shaken.
"What happened?" Lightning asked, rolling closer to the couch, seeing how pale she was.
She gulped, and didn't say a word. The only thing that loosened her lips was Nikki nudging her in the side gently. "Are you okay, mom?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad dream, Nikki. That's all." She replied, staring directly at Lightning, trying to tell him that it wasn't just any bad dream, and that she would tell him later, when Nikki was asleep. He caught the message, and nudged her gently.
"You sure you're all right?"
"Yeah. It just freaked me out a little." She replied, laying down beside Nikki again.
"Hey, Nikki, why don't you go see what Sara, Paul, and Harry are up to? I'm sure they wouldn't mind playing with you." Lightning suggested, and Nikki hopped off the couch.
"Okay!"
As soon as he left, Lightning turned to her. "All right, what was it about?"
Foxy sighed. "I was back home, my hair colors were gone, my ears were gone, my tail was gone. Max was gone. Sold, like my mom had planned to do. I went up to my room, and was thinking about you guys, when suddenly, there was this big flash, and I went to the window to find Nikki outside. I climbed out the window, and onto the roof, then jumped to the ground and went over to him. My mom came out, saw him, and flipped out. She called the authorities, and I told Nikki to run to a local park. He started to, but they caught him. When they brought him back to me, I-I just couldn't bare to see it. They had him wrapped up in ropes, and chains, and he had duct tape over his mouth, lots of it, and they said that they had been staking out the house, and saw him trying to leave. I told them to let him go, and that he was just a kid. They told me he was an alien, a thing. I tried to tackle the one cop when my mom came out of nowhere and held me back. They took him away, and I screamed for him. Then I woke up. They won't steal him away from me, will they? Like, they won't find living relatives and take him away, to them, will they? I don't think I could bear it. He's more mine then theirs now, anyways!"
"Foxy, none of that's going to happen. You're not thinking straight from the concussion. Now, did you legally adopt him?"
"Yes."
"Then he's yours, and they won't come after you and take him. Obviously no suitable relative was found, and besides, you are a living relative of him. His new mother."
"That was really corny, Light."
"Yeah, yeah. But then again, you were the one who dreamed me that way."
With a gasp, Foxy sat bolt upright, looking around frantically. Was this a dream, too? Or was this reality? "Mom? You okay?" Came a sleepy-sounding voice. She looked down, and there was Nikki, looking up at her in concern.
"Yeah... just a bad dream, Nikki."
"It sounded bad, whatever it was. You kept shouting a lot, and you were squirming around a lot." He hugged her tightly, and she hugged him back. The only light in the room was the light from the tv, which was still turned to cartoons.
"Foxy? You okay?" Lightning asked, rolling into the room.
"Yeah, fine. Hey, did Fillmore put anything into that hot chocolate? Like, any substances?"
Lightning gave her a look, as though saying, 'Knowing him, there's a possibility...'
"Great. So I just drank all that substance-laced hot chocolate. Well, that explains the trippy dreams."
Lightning laughed, and at Foxy's expression, he fell silent. "You all right?" He asked quietly, nudging her. He was serious, and she knew it. She sighed.
"Yeah, I guess so, now that I know what the cause of the dreams were."
Nikki climbed into her lap, and she hugged him tightly." "Mom, what does 'subtsance-subdance..."
"'Substance.'"
"Yeah, that. What's that mean?"
"It's something I normally wouldn't use, and something you SHOULD NOT use. Fillmore likes to use it from time to time because it lets you think in a completely different way then everyone else. You see lots of strange things when you use it, like my strange dreams. Some cars see colors, and patterns, or see what I saw, called 'hallucinations'."
"Why does Fillmore use it? Is he bad for using it?"
"I just told you why, and no. He isn't bad. He grew up around that stuff, and to him, it's okay to use it."
"Then why'd he put it in your hot chocolate?"
"Good question!" Foxy exclaimed, making Nikki giggle. "I'm gonna ask him about it myself." She told him, and he nodded.
"Is he in trouble?"
"For putting it in my hot chocolate? Maybe. For using it himself? No."
"Are you gonna give him a time-out?"
Lightning laughed out loud, and Foxy gave him a look that quickly shut him up.
"Probably not. Why? Do you want me to?"
"YES!" Nikki exclaimed, grinning widely.
Foxy laughed, then rubbed his roof. "Well, it isn't gonna happen."
"Aww..." He pouted, and Foxy smiled.
"Why are you so intent on seeing Fillmore get punished?"
Lightning was snickering behind her, and she could only guess why.
"Because, he was naughty."
Lightning burst out laughing, and Foxy figured out why. "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" The two chorused, then they both fell to laughing.
"Huh?" Nikki asked, confused.
"Nothing, Nikki. It's a joke between Light and me. It's a joke that we shouldn't be laughing at, since we're mature adults."
Lightning snorted with laughter, and Foxy looked his way. "Right, Lightning?"
"Sure, whatever you say. Mature adults."
With that, he began laughing again, and Foxy sighed. "Lightning, you're hopeless..."
"You sure you're okay, though?"
"Yeah, just a little freaked out."
This is going to be a sort of serious tidbit for this one. My mom has decided that we're moving, sometime soon, or in the future, whenever. And before that, she's going to sell Max, who is sitting parked through the door behind me and covered in sheets, as he is in the first time we hear about him. Poor chap's got something wrong with his engine, and my cheap mother and baboon of a brother won't fix him so we can keep him. :/
So, as I sit here typing this, he may eventually only exist in my memories, and the large photo I was promised by said mother. When this day comes, I shall post a short story deciding Max's fate in the Cars world, as well. We shall see how Foxy reacts to it, for this is her last remaining physical memory of her father that she has.
