Two things very quickly: I think I'll upload on Wendsdays and Saturdays to speed things along, and if Cars/Cars2 had bloopers, what do you guys think would be in them? I'm curious to know! :) Now, on to the show!
"Did you want to go find her? I'll come with you if you want."
Sara nodded, and her brothers rolled up to Sarge.
"What do you three say to a drive up to Wheel Well?"
"Sure!"
"Sounds like fun!" The four drove off towards the firehouse and rounded the corner as the others watched. As soon as they had rounded the corner, Sarge picked Sara up so she could see better.
"Where to, Sara?"
"Straight up to Wheel Well." She replied, and Sarge looked surprised.
"All right, if you're sure. Hop on, boys." The two climbed onto Sarge's hood, and he drove up to Wheel Well. Once they reached it, he looked to Sara.
"She should be right around here. Could we look, Sarge?"
"Just be careful, you three."
They got down from Sarge's hood, and began searching.
"Hey, what's this?" Harry's voice came out of some bushes that led to a hidden area surrounded on three sides by steep rock walls.
The others hastened to his side, and then they saw something in the dirt closer to the rear wall. It was completely rusted over, and was bent inwards in multiple areas. It looked as though it had been part of something at one time or another, and Sarge looked closer.
"It looks like a door, or a bumper." He said, looking around at the three, who were hiding behind his front tires.
"Not that, that." Harry replied firmly, pointing with a tire to something large, rusted, and deformed. It was mainly orange in the spots where it wasn't rusty, and Sarge saw a spot of black underneath the object. He peered closer, and saw that it was a tire.
"I think you've found her, Harry." Sarge said quietly, and the three looked horrified.
"That can't be her. It just can't be! Doc said that she was alive." Sara exclaimed.
"Maybe nobody knew that she died, so everybody thought she was still alive." Harry said, looking from Sara, to Sarge, to the rusty body of their mother.
"Harry's got a point, Sara. Maybe nobody knew that she died. I mean, we didn't know it, and here we are."
Sara sighed, and drove closer to the rusted car. "But I don't see a blower, or bigger tires in the back, or little ones in the front. She looks nothing like us."
"Those were all your father's traits. And there is one thing you four have in common."
"What?" The three chorused.
"Your paint color. Notice how your mother's is the same color as yours?"
The three all looked at their mother, who was orange, then down at their hoods, which were orange.
"Now all we've got to do is find the guy who said that he's our dad." Sara said darkly, turning away from the group.
"Sara, don't say that. He is your father, otherwise, you three wouldn't look like him at all. And he and your mother were the same type of car, so you three are almost purebred. The only thing he had that your mother didn't was all those modifications." Sarge said gently, reaching a tire out to comfort her.
She turned around, and her expression was downcast. She drove over to Sarge, sniffling as she hid her grille in his wheel, her eyes shut tight.
"Hey. Remember what I said."
Sara looked up at him, confused, her eyes filling up with tears.
"No crying." He said gently, lifting her bumper up with a tire. "I think it's best that we leave, don't you two?" He asked the boys, who nodded silently.
They had never seen their sister cry before, and they were scared by it. They drove over to Sarge, who picked Sara up and set her on his hood gently, where she curled up into a little ball of dejected sadness.
When they got back to town, Sarge noticed something instantly, but waited to see if the three would. He parked in his regular spot, trying hard not to give away the surprise. None of the three noticed Thunder's return, not even when Jack looked over their way from where she was petting his back.
The others were trying not to laugh when Paul went over to Doc and asked, "Is Thunder any better yet? We miss him."
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Doc asked, trying not to laugh.
Thunder sat down silently behind Paul, and wagged his tail.
Paul looked confused, then asked Doc where Thunder was.
Thunder barked loudly, and Paul jumped a foot in the air in surprise. The others all laughed aloud, then Paul flipped around. He found himself hood to muzzle with Thunder, and squealed with joy.
"Thunder!" He shouted, hugging Thunder tightly. Harry raced over, and hugged Thunder also, shouting, "Thunder! You're okay!"
Sara raised her hood up from where she had been crying quietly on Sarge's hood, curled up into a little ball, and saw her friend being hugged and petted by her brothers. She almost flew off Sarge's hood in one gigantic leap that sent her towards Thunder.
He stood up quickly, catching her in his mouth. "Hi, Thunder! We missed you so much!" Sara exclaimed when Thunder set her down. She promptly scrambled onto his back and hugged him tightly, giggling happily. He barked happily, then romped around the little group, barking and wagging his tail. He stuck his tongue out and gave Paul a gigantic, slobbery cleaning.
"Thunder, stop!" Paul exclaimed, giggling wildly. The three went down to the Butte and raced each other around the track for a few hours, then returned, Thunder playfully nipping their back tires.
Sara turned around and swatted at his muzzle playfully, and he licked it as she swiped it in front of him. "Eww, doggy drool!" She giggled, then wiped her tire through the dirt. The group stayed in Sally's motel for a while, playing tag and chase. Thunder pretended to ignore them as they tauntingly swerved in and out of his reach, then he would bolt after one of them, barking.
Once he had chased them down, he'd tickle them mercilessly. Finally, he leapt onto Lightning's roof and barked triumphantly, his tail beating out a rhythm on Lightning's trunk. The others laughed, and Thunder slid down Lightning's windshield, laying down on his hood.
The four children scrambled onto Lightning's hood, then laid down next to Thunder.
"Looks like they're worn out." Sally laughed as the group fell asleep.
Lightning snickered quietly, then drove back over to his cone. He put Thunder back into his bed, next to Mariana. He set Jack, Harry, and Paul next to him, and took Sara back over to Flo's to give her to Sarge. Sarge took her gently and set her onto his hood, making sure she stayed asleep before continuing to argue with Fillmore about his taste in music.
Mariana woke up late at night with a moan, and stretched. She didn't stretch out very far before she felt an ache spread over her body, and she curled up, trying to get the aching to stop. She opened her eyes, and yawned widely. She figured that she was dreaming because Thunder was by her side, along with the others, except for Sara. She shook her hood to clear the sleepiness from it, and moaned softly in pain. She got up unsteadily, and limpingly drove down the hallway to Lightning's room.
Lightning was fast asleep, his front bumper mashed into his pillow, his front end tilted slightly to one side.
"Lightning?" She whispered. She got no reply, so she drove over to him quietly. "Lightning?" She asked quietly, poking him gently in the side. He bolted upwards with a garbled exclamation, his hood whipping back and forth as he looked around quickly for the car that had scared him. He spotted Mariana, and sighed with relief, panting slightly.
"What's wrong, Mariana?" He asked, reaching out a tire for her to climb onto. She reached for it, but instead drew back from the aching pain in her axles. Lightning realized what was wrong, and repressed the urge to say, "I told you so." Instead, he got down from the bed and drove out into the hallway, yawning slightly.
On the way, he scooped up Mariana, and set her on his hood. She curled up, and Lightning looked down at her with slight pity, before he rummaged around in a high cabinet that Mariana couldn't reach.
"Here. Just don't say anything to Sally, because then she'll flip out on me." He handed her two small, round pills, and then drove into the kitchen.
He poured her a glass of oil, and watched as she swallowed the pills. "Any better?"
She nodded, yawned, then curled up and fell asleep on his hood. He smiled, then drove back to his room, drove onto his mattress, and found a comfortable position. He was asleep in minutes, his front bumper mashed into the pillow again, Mariana curled up on his hood, his wheels splayed out.
He awoke the next morning to find Mariana stretching and moaning softly.
"Good morning, Mariana." He smiled at her, and she offered him a swift grin in return before stretching out her shocks as far as she could. She lowered herself back to the floor, and sighed contentedly, lying on the floor, her front bumper almost touching it.
"Comfortable?" Lightning snickered.
"Yeah." Mariana replied softly, rolling over onto her back. She attempted to scratch her roof like a dog, but instead ended spinning herself in circles.
"Here, let me help." Lightning grinned wickedly, then pushed her across the carpet. She slid easily, spinning lazily in circles.
"Hey! That was kind of fun." She giggled, and pushed herself off the closest wall she could reach, rocketing towards Lightning. He angled his wheel, and she went flying into the air. Lightning caught her as she fell out of the air, then set her on his hood. "Good catch." She giggled, and Lightning laughed.
Thunder trotted into the room, followed by Harry, Paul, and Jack.
"Morning, you four." Lightning greeted them, and Thunder wagged his tail. He spotted Mariana, then plucked her off Lightning's hood. She gasped as she realized that Thunder wasn't a dream, then squealed happily.
"Thunder!" She exclaimed, giggling as he barked.
They went outside, and Mariana slid down the ramp. She landed in a heap on the icy surface of Sally's motel. "D'oh!" She exclaimed as she almost hit a planter.
"Hey, come back!" Lightning exclaimed as she began sliding uncontrollably towards the road, as Lightning and Thunder had stopped at the top of the ramp.
"I can't!" She seemed to be running in place for a moment, then she landed on the ice with her undercarriage. "That's cold!" She squealed, her tires slipping rapidly as she tried to get up.
Doc rolled over to her, and helped her up, chuckling as she slipped and nearly fell, her tires slipping in all directions. She looked up at him pleadingly, her axles stretched out as far as they could go, her wheels holding onto the ground by just a little bit of rubber.
Lightning slid over to them, slightly wobbly, and attempted to help. Instead, he managed to send Mariana back down to the ice, and sliding across the road. She screamed, then quickly stopped when Flo opened the garage door to the Café and caught her.
"Good morning, sweetie." Flo smiled, then she noticed that Mariana was shaking. "Here, I'll wrap you in a scarf, sweetie." Flo wrapped Mariana up, then gave her a hot drink.
Mariana thanked Flo before going back outside. Now, she could see the piles of snow, and how icy the area was. "Yay! Let's go sledding at the Butte!" She begged Thunder, who had made his way over without any trouble. He barked happily, then scooped her up and trotted away with her, towards Willy's Butte.
Thunder produced an old, rickety toboggan from a bush, and grabbed the rope in his jaws. Mariana giggled and climbed onto it, and away they went. Thunder pulled the sled until it had plenty of speed going, then he hopped onto it, and they flew down the hills. Once they reached the track, they slowly came to a halt, and Mariana asked if Thunder could do it again. She passed him a pad and a pen when she saw him looking around.
'If you'd really like to have some fun... come with me back to town. I've got a surprise for you.'
"What is it?"
'If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, right?' He wrote, then looked at her with a doggy grin before he picked her up again.
"Yeah, I guess so." Mariana replied contentedly, then began sipping her hot drink.
They arrived back in town shortly, then Thunder trotted over to his scrap yard. He set Mariana down in an ice-free spot, then wrote for her to shut her eyes. She did, then Thunder raced to the very back of the yard. He moved a large piece of corrugated tin aside, then pushed another piece, being careful not to cut himself.
When the two pieces fell, Mariana opened her eyes, startled.
AAAND... CLIFFHANGER! Sorry, I had to! And as for the peculiar question above, the reasoning behind it is top secret, and I will in no way tell you what it is about, other then i hope you will all enjoy what comes of it... O_O I've said too much... *backspacebackspacebackspace*