Oh, it has taken SO LONG to get this done. but, I did get A's and B's on all my finals! SPRING BREAK! WHOO! This means MORE updates! YAY! Plan 18 worked!

Chapter Eight: Unexpected

Two hours later, the race was ready to start. Laura and Scarlet were muttering quietly to each other near the center of the track. Lightning and Doc watched them, along with a very unhappy Chick Hicks.

"Hang on," Chick said, "I have to tie with her? Really?" Doc glared at his protégé's nemisis. "Do you want to race or not?" he growled. Chick slumped. "I thought so." Doc chuckled. "So, when do we start?" Lightning asked. "If you can remember your part, we could start now." Chick snickered at Doc's remark, only to receive another glare.

"I gotta go sign us in." Scarlet said, driving over to Doc and the others. "Is she ready?" Lightning asked. "Yep. She seems a little nervous though. Double checked every parameter of the track…" Scarlet showed him a file on her phone with a bunch of calculations. "I didn't know there was that much math in racing!" Chick stared wide-eyed at the screen. Doc laughed and went over to Laura's spot.

"Name?" he said, looking as uninterested as he could, given the circumstances. "Laura." "Age?"

"Fifteeen."

"Have you ever raced in an official league?"

"No."

At this, Doc raised a windshield. "You've never raced in minor leagues, and et you want to challenge the top two Piston Cup competitors of the season?" "Of course." "Wow…" Doc went to enter her "information." He looked positively dumbstruck as he passed Lightning and Chick. Lightning took this as incentive to follow him. "What's wrong?" he asked. "As far as we can tell, she's never raced before." Lightning's eyes widened. "W-W-What're we gonna do? This is going to be way harder than we thought." "Maybe, maybe not…" Chick piped up behind them, a thinking look on his face. The two turned to face him. "What did you say?" "I said it's still possible." He stated. "For a rookie to tie with us?" Lightning glared. "No, to simplify the plan. Here, let me show you." He was about to take out a diagram when Sheriff's voice sounded over the loudspeaker.

"ALL RACERS TO THE TRACK!"

Okay, now I have some GREAT IDEAS for the next few chappies... Reviews and wishes are greatly appreciated! Thanks!