Chapter 7 - Apologies and Kisses
Blaze was able to keep himself in first place for the longest time, as he and Crusher sped through the streets of the city to get outside into the forest ranges.
And Crusher wasn't usually very athletic, as he kept running into rocks and bushes or kept landing flat on his stomach when he couldn't stick the landing after a jump in the dirt path.
But Crusher was hopeful when they were soon coming up to more clear terrain; on the other side of the forest was a chain of snowy and icy mountains, certainly with less trees and other forest debris for Crusher to run into.
"Give it up, Blaze! Rain is MINE!" Crusher laughed manically when he suddenly bumped Blaze harshly to get in front of him.
"Not if I can help it, Crusher!" Blaze shouted back boastfully, and suddenly activated his Blazing Speed to zip passed the dark blue monster truck, much to Crusher's dismay.
But he wasn't going to let him get too far ahead, as he saw a very helpful part of the race coming up fast. Crossing over a large and frozen lake was a large, wooden arch bridge, but it was so old and rickety, that all Crusher had to do was get back in front of Blaze, and he would beat him for sure.
"See if you can blaze passed this," Crusher mocked quietly with dark laughter, as his light blue paint design started to glow brightly, and the small metal packs on his sides suddenly opened to build something.
The small bits of metal soon turned into a giant, robotic, fire-breathing dragon, as it roared viciously and flew through the air with its giant, metal wings.
"As soon as I get passed Blaze, torch that bridge!" Crusher instructed the dragon, and it hissed at him in response. Crusher assumed that that meant it understood what it was supposed to do…but he would soon learn the hard way that building a robotic fire-breathing dragon is NOT a good idea.
The bridge was just wide enough for two monster trucks like Blaze and Crusher to cross at the same time, but Crusher made it difficult as he continued to push Blaze to the side, nearly pushing him off the bridge.
"Crusher, stop! I'm about to fall!" Blaze begged when Crusher hit him harder than last time, and he just barely managed to keep his balance.
"Exactly! I warned you, Blaze, and now you're gonna pay the price!" Crusher boomed and attempted to speed passed Blaze, but that was when his robotic fire-breathing dragon plan finally backfired.
Just when Crusher finally got in front of Blaze, his dragon suddenly swooped in and set the bridge on fire…only, it not only created large flames behind Blaze, but also in front of Crusher. And after its job was done, the robotic dragon flew off into the sky with a shrill roar, leaving Crusher and Blaze trapped in the middle of the arch bridge.
"AAAHH! WE'RE TRAPPED, WE'RE TRAPPED, WE'RE TRAPPED! WE'RE GONNA DIIIIIIEEEE!" Crusher shouted hysterically.
"No, we're not! Get behind me!" Blaze demanded firmly and pushed Crusher behind him to protect him; he then used his own engineering skills to turn himself into a Fire Truck Monster Machine, a vehicle he has been before when he helped Axle City's fire department many times before.
With the new appendage of a fire hose, Blaze stretched it out and squirted powerful jets of water at the fires, and he knew he had to hurry before the fires destroyed the bridge's brittle structure and cause it to collapse…but it was too late.
Just when the fires seemed to die down enough to safely cross any further, the areas where the fires were began to break apart, going from little bits to large chunks of old wood falling onto the icy lake many yards below.
"We gotta go NOW!" Blaze instructed while activating his Blazing Speed, as they both needed to hurry and get to safety before their part of the bridge collapsed. The area behind them suddenly gave out again, creating a gap that would be impossible to jump, so going back was no longer an option.
And luck seemed to run out for Crusher when the part of the bridge he was standing on suddenly gave out from under his weight too, but he managed to save himself from falling into the frigid lake below by quickly grabbing the edge of the braking bridge.
"BLAZE! BLAZE, HELP!" Crusher begged while trying to keep from slipping, but it wasn't that easy with giant tires. And Blaze was panicking inside; he could either leave Crusher behind to save himself, or he could risk his own life to save Crusher…but it wasn't a difficult choice. Blaze's big heart would never allow him to leave anyone behind, not even jerks like Crusher.
"I gotcha," Blaze grunted as he extended his tow cable and grabbed one of his front shocks, but Crusher was heavier than anything he's ever had to pull, so it wasn't easy to pull him back up to safety.
But with all the strength in his entire body and all the will in his heart, Blaze slowly but surely pulled Crusher back up to the little bit of bridge they had remaining.
"B-Blaze…you…y-you…saved my life," Crusher stammered with bewilderment.
"Don't thank me yet. We still need to get off this bridge, and fast," Blaze stated firmly.
"Right," Crusher quickly agreed.
"BLAZE! CRUSHER!" The two said monster trucks turned around to find Rain, carrying Gabby, and Darington, carrying AJ, quickly approaching from behind. The one who called their names was Rain, as she was more than relieved to see that they were both still ok, but she was also terrified to realized what happened to the bridge and that they're stuck in the middle.
"Are you boys crazy?! I'm not worth either of you getting hurt!" Rain scolded.
"Maybe we are crazy—but HE was the crazier one! HE was willing to fight for you, Rain…when I clearly didn't deserve you," Crusher replied while pointing and smirking at Blaze.
Suddenly, the small part of what remained of the middle of the bridge began to topple and shake, no longer able to hold both Crusher and Blaze.
"I can't take it anymore!" Crusher shrieked and suddenly revved up his engine to top speed, and he jumped the smaller gap to the other side since the other gap was too large for any of them to jump. And luckily, the large, dark blue truck was able to make it to the other side, laughing hysterically that he was still alive.
But then the horror occurred.
Just when Crusher jumped, the middle part finally collapsed, and Blaze was still on it…but he wasn't able to jump in time. He fell towards the frozen lake below.
"BLAZE!" everyone cried at the top of their lungs, all except Crusher, who didn't know what to think or say.
Before they knew it, poor Blaze fell flat on the ice, and the impact was so hard, it instantly knocked him unconscious. And matters quickly became much worse when the ice around him started to crack rapidly; he was running out of time.
But the others could do nothing, as the larger gap prevented them from getting any closer to Blaze…unlike Crusher, whose gap didn't create such a great distance between him and the unconscious red monster truck.
But no one had much more time to think when the ice finally gave way, and Blaze immediately sunk and disappeared into the frigid water below. And Rain was already on the verge of tears when she saw this, fearing Blaze wouldn't make it out alive.
"We gotta get him outta there! If he doesn't get out of the water soon, his engine could fill with water, and it'll NEVER start again! He won't wake up after that!" Gabby informed with worry.
"Well, how will we do that?! We can't possibly reach him without endangering our own lives!" Darington pointed out.
"That's not true!" Crusher suddenly called, "I can reach him, and I can save him!"
With that, Crusher's tow cable suddenly shot out, and it fell into the hole in the ice with a splash. But it wasn't easy for Crusher to find Blaze in the nearly pitch black water, so they all waited at the edge of the bridge as the suspension nearly grew unbearable.
"C'mon, Blaze…c'mon…" Crusher growled, even though he knew it wouldn't help. But Lady Luck seemed to smiled down on him after he said that, because he suddenly felt his hook catch something, and with little to nothing inhabiting the freezing water, it could only be Blaze. Sure felt heavy enough to be him, as Crusher grunted and used all of his strength to pull the heavy object.
And soon enough, a large, bright red image could be seen coming closer to the surface. And when Crusher pulled it out of the water, it was revealed that he managed to hook Blaze's driver wheel. But as he pulled the red monster truck out of the water, he was completely limp, he was dripping with water, and he wasn't moving at all.
Blaze felt a throbbing pain in his engine, as he could see nothing but darkness for the longest time. But he soon blinked his eyes open meekly while groaning in pain of coming back to consciousness.
"W-what…happened…?" Blaze asked meekly.
"He's awake! Everyone, come see! HE'S AWAKE!" Blaze thought he heard the excited voice of Gabby, as he looked around and slowly processed the fact that he was in Gabby's shop.
He then turned towards one of the garage's entrances, and he saw the rest of his friends quickly drive inside, crowding him and cheering that he woke up. And AJ was the first one to run him and give him a great big hug.
"Oh, Blaze, I thought I lost you!" AJ chuckled hysterically.
"Are you kidding? I'm not goin' anywhere," Blaze joked with a smirk…but then he noticed someone was missing, "hey…where's Rain?"
The others immediately went quiet at that, as their smiles soon turned to frowns, and no one answered him.
"She's not here," Crusher calmly replied, as he suddenly drove into the workshop, "she couldn't stand to see you like this because she thought it was her fault—but it was mine—I'm sorry, Blaze."
The fact that Crusher said sorry, let alone admitted something was his fault, threw everyone off guard, as they stared at him with wide eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm getting' all sappy. But listen, YOU need to apologize too—to Rain. She didn't think you'd make it," Crusher brushed off the others' expressions, but then looked at Blaze firmly.
"But no one knows where she went," Darington reluctantly pointed out, but then Blaze thought of something.
"I think I may know."
Rain was standing alone at the special cliff top Blaze showed her, as she couldn't think of any other place to retreat to after what happened. She didn't whether to keep hope or lose it all when the thought of Blaze came up in her mind.
She didn't want any of this to happen; she never wanted anyone to get hurt on her account…she couldn't help but feel that it was all her fault.
Not even the lovely sight of the clear and starry night sky could calm her down enough, as she had been waiting on that cliff top alone all day since Crusher rescued Blaze from the lake and pulled him to Gabby's shop, and Gabby did all she could to fix him.
"Rain?" The said blue female monster truck gasped, as she quickly wiped tears from her brown eyes; she then turned around to surprisingly find her younger brother standing behind her.
"Are you ok?" Darington asked gently.
"I-I don't know…how's Blaze?" Rain questioned with a sniffle and swallowed down her sorrow.
"Last time I checked—alive." After Darington's reply, he moved out of the way, to let none other than Blaze slowly and meekly approach Rain, who was on the verge of tears again—happy tears.
She immediately sobbed tears of joy, and sped up to Blaze to embrace him, and he gently embraced her back. The others were close behind Blaze, as they all watched the two with sweet smiles; even Crusher and Pickle joined them in watching the sappy moment.
"Blaze, I'm SO sorry! I didn't want this to happen! I don't mean that much-!" Rain began hysterically, but Blaze soon cut her off.
"Hey, don't EVER tell yourself that. I raced Crusher because you ARE worth that, and much more, to me," Blaze protested firmly, but still wore a sincere smile.
"He's not kiddin'. For a nice guy, he was REALLY willing to turn to drastic measures to win your heart," Crusher added with a chuckle.
"R-really? Does that mean…?" Rain asked with a smile, but she couldn't find the words when Blaze gently wiped her tears away.
"Yes—I love you, Rain," Blaze confirmed.
"Well, I…" Rain began as she had to swallow another bunch of tears of joy and excitement down, "I love you too, Blaze."
With that, Blaze and Rain finally expressed their true feelings by sharing a passionate kiss, everyone cheered for them both.
"Oh, I'm so happy, I could kiss you!" Stripes suddenly burst out while smiling brightly at Starla, but everyone then went quiet and stared at him, ruining the moment.
"Um…I-I mean…" Stripes tried to save the moment, but Starla suddenly smirked and gave him a little kiss on his fender, making his blush deep red.
The cheering started back up again; Pickle even started to cry tears of joy himself.
"Aaawwwww, isn't that just adorable?!" Pickle cried and pulled out a tissue to blow his nose.
"Yeah…I gotta admit, I'm not so happy that I didn't win again—but I'll let it slide because I made others much happier," Crusher sighed in defeat with a little smile, and he then turned and slowly drove away.
"Hey, were ya goin'?" Pickle questioned as he quickly followed Crusher.
"Home so that I can be alone…again," Crusher replied grimly.
"That's not true. You'll always have me, and besides, it's possible for EVERYONE to find love. Even you, Crusher," Pickle reassured happily.
"Yeah, that'll be the day," Crusher scoffed.
The End
Nyaaaawwww!
I don't know why, but for some reason, my writing always gets more dramatic in later chapters. Because I know, for a fact, that the first few chapters weren't a sappy or dramatic as the last ones. I'm not the only one that noticed that, right?
Anyway, that's the end of this love story, and I hope you guys liked it!
By the way, keep your eyes open, because there will be a sequel coming up soon! Oh, and yes, I ship Starla and Stripes.
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!
