Thunder yawned widely as an answer, then laid down at Lightning's side, his muzzle on his paws as he blinked sleepily. Lightning petted Thunder gently, and Thunder's tail wagged halfheartedly.

"It's like all the energy was sucked out of him." Sally said quietly, petting Thunder also. Flo drove over with a coffee for Sally, then went back to get Lightning's. She noticed how tired Thunder was, then smiled. She knew that he was faking, but didn't let on that she knew. Instead, she suggested that a coffee would help. She saw a spark in Thunder's eye, and almost laughed. She drove back into her café and brought out a coffee for Thunder. He yawned widely, then began drinking the coffee quickly.

"Hey, I thought you were tired?" Lightning asked, as Flo laughed.

"No, he was faking, just trying to get some coffee." She replied, and Thunder barked, his tail wagging as fast as it would go, hitting Lightning in the side.

"Ouch! Hey, watch it, that thing's a deadly weapon!" He exclaimed, cuffing Thunder playfully on the head.

Thunder growled playfully, then nipped Lightning's tire.

"Hey!"

Thunder barked, then romped in a circle around Lightning, barking loudly and whining eagerly. He wanted to go play fetch. He barked more insistently, then ran towards the Butte. He stopped, looked over at Lightning, and barked. He ran back, then nudged Lightning.

"It's too early for fetch." Lightning said, returning to his coffee.

Thunder barked, then ran back to where Lightning was. He sat up, begging. When he got no response, he whined. He still got no response, and he sighed. He sat down, then curled his tail over his paws and gave Lightning the best begging face he could muster. He added a quiet whimper for extra effect.

"Oh, all right." Lightning sighed, unable to take any more of Thunder's begging. "Only a few throws, because it's snowing."

Thunder bolted towards the Butte, barking happily. Lightning drove after him, as the others laughed.

"He sure knows how to get what he wants." Doc chuckled."Why don't you three go down and watch him?" He asked Paul, who hopped up from a sprawling position instantly.

"Yeah! Come on guys, let's go!" He called to his sister and brother, then the three departed.

They arrived at the Butte shortly, and found Lightning and Thunder down in the center of the racetrack, warming up. They stayed where the others usually watched from so they wouldn't interrupt the two. Thunder barked eagerly, jumping up at the stick Lightning was holding.

"All right, all right, hang on, you crazy mutt." Lightning replied, and Thunder backed off, sitting patiently in the snow. Lightning almost laughed, then tossed the stick far from him and Thunder. Thunder tore after it, churning up snow with his paws and sending it into the air. He jumped up and caught the stick, then trotted back to Lightning, his tail wagging. He dropped it, then sat, his tail still wagging. Lightning threw it again, farther this time, and again, Thunder tore after it as quickly as before. He jumped up again and caught it, then almost ran back to Lightning. He dropped it, then barked, his barks echoing off the wall behind them.

"One more throw, that's it, all right?" Lightning said after about an hour of throwing.

Thunder whimpered, then sat up, begging.

"No, one more. The snow's going to be too thick to see very far, and I know how upset you're gonna be if you can't find it. Maybe those three will throw some easy ones for you." Lightning pointed up at the three Barracudas, which were just barely visible through the thickly falling snow. Thunder sighed, then got ready to chase the stick. Lightning smiled, then threw it towards the wall. Thunder bolted after it just as Harry, Paul, and Sara came down to see better.

"Oh, he's gonna crash!" Sara said worriedly, watching as Thunder charged towards the wall, his eyes on the stick as it gradually lowered in altitude.

"No he won't. Just watch." Lightning said, grinning. Thunder glanced at the wall to see it coming up fast. He glanced back up at the stick, and took notice of its position. Abruptly, he leapt onto the wall, then ran on its surface. He jumped at the stick, his jaws wide.

The four watched as it seemed to happen in slow motion: Thunder's paws leaving the rock, the stick spinning horizontally, like the top blade of a helicopter, Thunder's eyes blink once. Everything seemed to fast forward from that point, and they saw Thunder hit the ground hard and not rise.

"Thunder!"

They fought their way through the snow towards him, where the stick was at his side, and he was lying limply in the snow.

"Thunder, what happened?!" Sara exclaimed, as Paul's windshield began filling with tears.

"Not again!" Harry exclaimed hysterically.

"You guys, calm down. I won't be able to figure out what's wrong if you guys flip out, okay?" Lightning said firmly, then he picked up Thunder, setting his body on his hood. "I think I can feel him breathing, so he might've just been knocked out." Lightning told the others, who relaxed, sinking down in the snow slightly. Thunder moaned, then shook his head a little. "See? Maybe the stick just caught him in the head a little. You all right, Thunder?" Lightning asked, and Thunder moaned again. His tail wagged slightly, and he curled up on Lightning's hood.

"What's wrong now?" Harry asked, looking up at Lightning fearfully.

"I imagine a stick that thick hitting the side of your roof might not feel too good, so he's probably got a splitting headache." Lightning replied, looking down at Harry.

Harry and the others nodded as they each looked at the stick in turn, then winced as they imagined the dents in their roofs from it. "I think we should go back up anyway, the snow's starting to really fall." Lightning scooped the three kids onto his hood, and they all cuddled Thunder gently. Lightning took them over to his cone, and set Thunder in his bed. "There you go, pal." He said softly, then smiled as the two boys dragged Mariana's blanket over him before snuggling in on either side of him. "Sara, do you want to-"

He looked around for Sara, only to find her lying next to Thunder.

"All right." He gently shut the door, then let the group be. He drove back over to Flo's, glancing back at his cone.

"What happened to Thunder this time?" Sally asked, looking over at Lightning.

"The stick cracked him in the head." Lightning replied to Sally's question, guiltily chuckling. He fell silent at a glance from Sally, then looked surprised as Sara came out of his cone.

"Sara, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask Sarge something." She threw a meaningful look over in Sarge's direction, and he drove out to meet her.

"Is there anything in the Hut you need?" He asked innocently.

"There might be. Could we go check?"

"Certainly."

The two drove off, glancing at each other and grinning. Sarge figured that Sara was going to try and find her father, and he wasn't wrong.

As soon as they closed the door behind them she announced hesitantly, "I want to go find Snot Rod."

"When?"

"Today, if that's all right."

"Where is he?"

"In the state, as far as I can tell. He's been at some place called 'Drag City' for a while now."

'She'll never make it there by morning, if that's what she wants to do.' Sarge thought, looking down at her firm expression.

"I might need to stay for a few days, maybe even a week until I find him." She spoke up, and Sarge looked down at her again.

"If you're going to head out tonight, then you'll need lights." He replied gruffly, and Sara grinned.

"Go get Harry. He'll need a pair too. And Paul, too."

"You mean you want all of us to go?"

"Of course. It's hard to not believe when you've got three identical cars looking up at you."

Sara agreed with a giggle, then left to go get Paul and Harry. They arrived shortly, and Sarge hooked them up with extra lights.

"So this is it. We're really going to find dad?" Harry asked, and Sara nodded.

"That's the first time that you've said that he's our dad." Paul pointed out to Sara, and Sara nodded, thinking of the long trip ahead.

"When will we set out, Sarge?"

"You can go now, but be careful." He drove them to the door, and one by one, they thanked him for the lights, and said their goodbyes.

Sara gave him a hug, then uttered a whisper too low for Paul or Harry to hear.

Sarge grinned, then waved them off as they drove down the road, following the GPS.

They kept to just under the speed limit, making a quick pace, then stopped at the billboard to ask Sara where to go from there.

"We just keep following the road." She replied simply, then the group kept going.

"Punchbuggy!" Harry exclaimed, punching Paul in the side as they passed by a lime-green Beetle. Paul swerved in shock, then exclaimed, "Hey!" After he got over his scare, the group laughed.

They drove until it got dark, then they pulled over on the side of the highway, into the brush. It had started to snow again, but they found a spot where the branches and leaves were cleared away. There was no snow in the little clearing, due to the presence of branches and leaves above them. It was large enough for them to spread out comfortably, and they all settled down. Sara looked out through the entrance to their sleeping quarters, into the little bit of cloudy sky she could see. She smiled as she thought about her whispered words spoken to Sarge.

Sarge was staring up into the night sky outside as he lowered the flag at the same time, and remembered that Sara had whispered to him, "No matter what, you'll be my dad, forever and always." He smiled as he spotted the moon through the clouds. He took the flag inside, then went to sleep. Sara snuggled against her brothers, who were already sleeping, then slowly fell asleep too.

She awoke abruptly in the morning, her night filled with dreams of Snot Rod, what he would be like, and how loud his sneezes were. The largest one of all had been what had woken her up, and she was relieved to see Paul and Harry waking up also. Sara looked out through the entrance, and saw light traffic.

"Everyone must be at work." Sara replied. She and her brothers were able to get onto the highway without much trouble.

They stayed in the right lane, all together. They spotted a squad car, and pulled over to ask for directions, since the GPS had lost its charge. He offered to take them there himself, and they thanked him as they accepted his offer.

"You three going back home? You're a long way away from it." He asked politely, smiling down at them.

"No, we live in Radiator Springs. At least I hope we will after this." Sara replied, and she looked worriedly at her brothers, who shared her expression.

"What's wrong? Why wouldn't you live there anymore?"

"We're going to find our dad, and he lives in Drag City." Paul spoke up, and the officer looked more confused then he already was.

"It's a long story." Harry said.

"It'll take a long time to get there, so I think we'll be able to squeeze it in. Besides, it might shorten the trip." The officer replied, smiling down at them all.

"Maybe you're right, Officer...?"

"Fritzpatrick."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Paul, that's Sara, and-"

"I'm Harry."

"Nice to meet you all too."

They began driving on the highway again, telling Officer Fritzpatrick why they were going to Drag City.

"...but Sara doesn't think she'll like him very much." Paul finished with his part of the story, and Sara frowned at him.

"Why's that?" Officer Fritzpatrick asked Sara, looking at her in confusion.

Sara sighed, then replied, "It just... doesn't feel like he's our dad. It feels like he's some total stranger that we've known since we were born but never visited him. The way we grew up, we thought we were orphans."

The police Camaro nodded understandingly, then looked down at her. "I know how you feel. My wife and I were childhood friends, and then one of us moved. We finally met up again at the police academy. I'm still a bit ashamed to say that I didn't recognize her, even though she recognized me." He chuckled, and the triplets giggled.

"Hey, look!"

Paul pointed to a road sign that read, "DRAG CITY, 5 MILES".

"Well, you three are nearly there." He replied, smiling down at them.

"Thanks so much, Officer Fritzpatrick."

"My pleasure, you three. Can you make it from here, or should I come with you?" Sara, Harry, and Paul exchanged looks, clearly wondering which choice would be better. After a few seconds, they reached an agreement, then Sara spoke up.

"No thank you, sir. We should be able to manage from here." She offered him a smile, which was returned with a chuckle and a friendly nudge in the side with a tire.

"All right, good luck then. If you're ever in Amarillo, look me up." He said, before driving away.

Well, they've finally set out on the adventure!

Did anyone else LOL at the 'Punchbuggy!' bit? I couldn't resist putting it in. xD