Hi, guys! This chapter was a real pain to upload. First, it wouldn't work for, like, twenty-four hours. Then when I published it, I got it pointed out that it was nothing but code. (Blame FFN for that. I have no idea how that happened.) So, I'm hoping that this has solved the problem.
Anyway, hope you all had wonderful holidays! I know I sure did! Now, Home for Christmas (the short story in the Tales from Radiator Springs collection) was my early Christmas present to you guys, but this is my late Christmas present. This is just another filler, so don't expect much from it. I know it seems like there are a lot of filler chapters, but, like I said before, I wanna add as many original scenes as I possibly can. That way, we get to go behind the scenes of the movie a little more and you won't know everything you can expect.
Chapter 7- Before the Race
"Rise and shine, Fudge-O!" Lightning called as a door opened noisily.
Lightning? What was he doing in her house and waking her up? Fudge stretched her hand out and smacked it hard on something wooden.
"Ow!" she cried, rubbing her sore hand.
Since when was the bedside table that close to her bed? Surely, it was further away than that last time she checked. Fudge sat up sleepily and saw not the familiar little businesses of her hometown, but the sun rising over the huge towers of a city and lots of signs in Japanese characters.
Oh, yeah, she remembered. She was in Tokyo. She kept forgetting. They'd been there for a couple of days and every morning, Fudge would wake up, thinking that she was back home in Radiator Springs.
"All right, guys!" Lightning announced. "We got a lot to do today, so... let's get to it!"
"All right, what's first?" Sarge asked, his voice filled with its usual authority and determination to get to work.
"Breakfast."
Everyone laughed.
After eating, they returned to their rooms to turn on the weather (Lightning wanted to see what kind of conditions he could expect out on the track).
"It's in Japanese!" Lightning exclaimed in dismay when the weather appeared on the screen.
"This is Japan, soldier", Sarge reminded him. "What did you expect?"
"It's not that bad", Fudge noted, gesturing to the screen. "Look, they got the pictures like the sun and the cloud and the rain... and your favourite, the lightning bolt! Plus, the numbers are all in English.
"In Celsius, not Fahrenheit!" Lightning complained.
Once they'd converted the Celsius into Fahrenheit Lightning, Sarge, Fillmore, Luigi and Guido got to work, insisting that Fudge and Mater could help by staying out of the way and out of trouble.
"Why do we have the hard job?" Fudge had joked to Mater, giggling.
"If you want, Fudge", Sarge piped up kind of sternly, "you can help us."
"I'm good", she replied.
"So..." Fudge attempted to start a conversation with Mater once the others had left. "What's new?"
"Aw, nothin' much", the tow truck responded. "Jus' excited about my date. And McQueen done apologised to me 'bout last night, so..."
"So, you guys are cool?"
Mater nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, that's good... So, what do you wanna do?"
Mater shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, let's see what's on TV", Fudge suggested, reaching for the remote control.
When the TV came on, the first thing they got was a black and white, fuzzy, crackly channel.
"Oh! I love this show!" Fudge joked.
But Mater changed the channel.
"Think we'll find anything in English?" Fudge wondered as they flipped through channels of anime and Japanese news and game shows. Nothing seemed to be in English.
"I don't know..." Mater navigated himself to the movies. "Dad-gum! They got a preview for that movie we wanna see! Let's watch!"
Fudge shrugged. "Okay." She grinned, leaping onto the couch. "I have been dying to see this movie for ages! And it's in English!"
It wasn't for about another ten minutes that Fudge realised that this wasn't a preview at all. It was the actual movie! At first, Fudge was a little concerned that they were gonna have to pay for it, but it was a little too late. Besides, she was far too into the movie to turn it off. Plus, Lightning was filthy rich. He could easily afford it.
When the others returned, they decided to leave early for the race, so they could grab some dinner from a nearby sushi place before the race and get to the pits early to make sure they were prepared. So, Fudge changed into her cheerleading outfit, grabbed her red and gold pom-poms and they were off.
"This place is awesome!" Fudge declared, looking around at the pits covered in the team's logo.
"Yeah, you like it?" Lightning asked.
The human girl nodded. "Yeah! And at least, we're under cover", she noted. "Remember that race where it was just pouring it down!"
"Oh, yeah!" Lightning chuckled, clearly remembering. He'd returned to the pits after the race to find a very wet and cold Fudge shivering with blue lips and chattering teeth.
"Fudgie nearly got a cold from that race", Luigi chimed in with a smile.
Everyone laughed except for Mater, who hadn't been to that race. Fudge cast a glance to the tow truck and was wondering if he felt left out. If he did, he was trying not to show it. At least he was here now and joining the rest of them on this big adventure.
"So, this is Allinol?" Fudge examined the tank in front of her. "What's so great about this stuff?" What the eleven-year-old knew about gasoline and alternative fuels, you could fit into the head of a pin with plenty of room to spare.
"It's supposed to be a great alternative fuel", Lightning explained, telling her about the environmental benefits of alternative fuel.
Fudge nodded understanding. "Oh. Okay." It made a lot more sense now,
Pretty soon, it was time for the racers to get onto the track.
"You ready, guys?" Lightning quizzed his pit crew.
"Absolutely!" they assured him.
"What about you, Fudge-O?"
Fudge nodded, waving her pom-poms. "Ready as I'll ever be!"
The race car looked to his best friend. "Mater? Are you ready?"
The tow truck nodded confidently. "Yeah, I'm ready!"
He sure looked ready. In fact, with his headset on and a serious, confident expression on his face, Fudge had never seen Mater look so professional. Well, actually, she'd never seen him look professional at all. At least, not in the conventional way. While happy, cheerful and a little (okay, a lot) childlike, he was still professional in his work as a tow truck. Now, he looked like a true serious crew chief. It was probably because he was very determined not to let his best friend down.
Although Lightning had apologised to Mater about the night before, the events still lingered in everyone's minds. Fudge just couldn't stop thinking about that oil. And the other human. And that muscle car led away by the Gremlin and Pacer. And Mater's supposed girlfriend. She just wished that she could make sense of it all. And she knew what the others would say if she told them that all of that was still on her mind.
It's all over now, Fudge, they'd tell her. Just don't waste time worrying about it, all right?
But she couldn't stop worrying about it. Something was up. She just didn't know what yet.
"Well, I better get out there", Lightning announced, revving his engine. "Wish me luck!" he called to the others.
"Good luck!" Fudge shouted. "You're the best! You are so gonna beat the open wheels off of Francesco!"
"You go get 'em, buddy!" Mater cried.
Well, that's another chapter done. There's a reference to something that's mentioned later in the movie, but I'm sure you all noticed that.
Not a lot to say except please review. That's what motivates me to keep writing and updating. Reviews are like my Cruz Ramirez.
