Long chapter today for two reasons: First off, it's an action chapter, and I couldn't stop it in the middle of the action. Secondly, I'm leaving for a trip to D.C. With my Bf's family on Froday, and I wanted to give you guys as much as possible! :)

She rattled the fence, making him jump nearly two feet in the air. He backed into the center of the impound lot and sank down on his shocks as Foxy sent him a glare that could've set him on fire. "I think I've tormented you enough for today. Besides, I'm bored with you." She spat at him with another glare before going back over to Lightning. "Watch this." She whispered with a wink in Lightning's direction. She turned around and hissed like a cat in Chick's direction, and he cowered towards the back of the lot, then chucked a flat tire at the gate, hoping to startle her.

With a menacing growl, Foxy leapt at the gate, and clung to it, shaking it and making it rattle. She gave Chick a blazing glare again, and he backed into another submissive position.

She jumped down from th gate, and began pacing in front of it, glaring at Chick like a lioness waiting for the kill. "It's only a matter of time, Chick. Only a matter of time." She hissed, giving Chick a hard, unblinking glare. "I'm bored again. You are nothing to me." She told Chick with venom, then climbed onto Lightning's hood. "Let's go, Light." She told him, and Lightning rolled back towards the town. "That was fun!" Foxy laughed, perfectly calm and happy.

"You mean all that wasn't real?"

"Of course not! I'm a good actress, right?"

"Definitely!"

"He looked like he was going to leak all over himself." Foxy continued laughing, and Lightning joined her in her laughter.

"I think he bought it."

"He sure did! Did you see the look on his face?" Their laughter carried them all the way to Flo's.

"Where were you two?" Doc replied with an ill-concealed grin. He knew full well that they had been tormenting Chick.

"We were looking for rabbits." Foxy replied.

"If you two were tormentin' Chick..."

"Sheriff, we weren't tormenting him. Foxy just scared him bad enough to nearly make him leak." Lightning began laughing again, and Foxy blushed.

"How did ya manage that?"

"She's a good actress."

"All I did was pretend to get really mad at him, and he pretty much played possum." Foxy replied with a grin. "Now you can use me as a threat, Sheriff!"

Sheriff sighed, shaking his hood in bewilderment.

That night, Foxy curled up close to Fillmore, purring lightly. She had put her hair into a ponytail, not wanting to get tangled up in it. Fillmore was petting her absentmindedly, still not really believing that her hair was now bright red and yellow. The neon covering Fillmore's dome was lit up, and the multicolored lights were casting a dim rainbow of light throughout the dome.

Neither one was talking, but they didn't need to talk. They were both lost in their thoughts, Foxy's about Fillmore, and Fillmore's about Foxy. He was worried that Chick would break free, that Christine would come back, or that Foxy would get hurt again. Foxy was worried that Chick would come after Fillmore for her, and what would happen to Fillmore if she left unwillingly. She also wondered if Fillmore liked her the way she liked him. Her thoughts were full of nothing but him, what he would say if she asked him any question, what he thought of the desert rose, if he studied the stars as she did nearly every clear night. Foxy snuggled closer to Fillmore's side, and wrapped herself in his blanket. She had heard that sleeping with something belonging to a significant other was the best part of a relationship, and that it always smelled like them. She wished that she could smell, mainly because she wouldn't feel left out.

Fillmore patted her head a final time, then went to go shut off the neon so they could go to sleep. "Good night, Fillmore." Foxy sighed happily as Fillmore laid back down at her side.

"Night, man." Fillmore replied quietly as he nuzzled her gently. She smiled and hugged his tire to her chest again before falling asleep, curled up around it. Fillmore smiled, then drifted off to sleep as well.

Chick was berating himself over in the impound lot for being afraid of Foxy. "She's nothing but a weak female! You could've beaten her up, Hicks! And yet you let her walk all over you like a worn, dirty carpet! Get a grip on yourself, she's a scrawny weakling, and you could overpower her any day!"

He continued raving at himself until well into the early hours of the morning, when he finally fell asleep. "She's nothing but tractor manure." He said around a yawn. Suddenly, he didn't feel tired any more. "If she's tractor manure, then why's she not in the tractor field?" He replied with a sour grin. He hobbled over to the gate, looking for Sheriff. He didn't see Sheriff anywhere, and backed up. "I hope this works." He whispered, and charged forwards, crashing into the gate.

It caved under his weight, and fell to the dirt with a crash. He grinned, and started trying to get his parking boot off. He was glad that he had dislocated that wheel when he was younger. The boot popped off easily, and he didn't even feel any pain when the wheel popped back into place. He rolled quietly towards Fillmore's dome, and captured Foxy, shoving his tire into her mouth to muffle her screams. "So, who's the scary one now?" He replied with a cold glare.

She whimpered, but couldn't reply. He shoved a rag into her mouth, then tied her up. He made sure to make the ropes tight, so she couldn't escape. Once she was rendered immobile, Chick picked her up. "You're coming with me." He uttered in a quiet hiss. He dropped her onto his hood roughly, and drove out to the tractor field. "I was thinking, since you're a pile of tractor manure, you belong with the tractors. So here we are." He told her airily.

She squirmed and wriggled and mumbled on his hood, looking like a large worm. He picked her up, and threw her into the tractor field. "Don't try to scream for help, you might get trampled, or EATEN." Chick replied with an evil grin. Foxy's eyes grew wide as she watched him leave. She remained silent, and worked on getting closer to the fence so the tractors didn't trample her by accident. By the time she had gotten over there, the sky was starting to lighten. She heard an engine, and saw a splash of green.

"I had second thoughts about leaving you here. I figured it would be entertaining to watch you try and get away, since every time you get outside the fence, I'll throw you back in." Foxy squirmed and wiggled her way to the fence, and Chick grabbed one of the ropes, picking her up. He threw her even farther then last time, and she almost hit a tractor as she landed hard and flipped once before rolling through the wheat. She stopped about three inches from a tractor's tire, and as she looked up at the tractor, she could see it slowly start to move, first a mirror, then the other. Her eyes grew wide again, and she tried to squirm out of the way. She made it, and slowly made her way back to the fence. She stopped just inside it, where Chick couldn't reach her from his position. She was shocked to see that he was grinning, and soon found out why.

He yelled loudly, and one by one, the herd of tractors awoke abruptly, moos and exclamations echoing throughout the field. Foxy heard a rumbling bellow, and tried to scream, but all that came out what a whimper. Frank had woken up, she was sure of it. Chick was chuckling, a sneer on his bumper, and he rolled closer to Foxy. "I'm free, and that means that you're going to die." His eyes glittered maliciously. "There is one small problem, however. I'm not going to go down with you. You're going to die, cold and alone, and without your buddy 'Filly' by your side." Foxy attempted to get up, and Chick laughed before shoving her back down to the ground.

In Fillmore's dome, he woke up yawning sleepily. He looked in the direction of Foxy's chair, and noticed that she was gone. Seemingly without thinking, he drove out of his dome and down to the impound. Chick was missing, and the gate was down. He drove towards the courthouse, calling for Sheriff. Sheriff drove out, blinking sleepily and yawning. "Elizabeth and Chick are gone, Sheriff." Fillmore announced, and Sheriff snapped awake instantly.

"We've got to find her. Who knows what he could be doing to her!" Sheriff exclaimed, speeding down to the impound. "Go get Thunder."

Fillmore took off towards Lightning's cone, banging on the door. Lightning answered, blinking in surprise. "Fillmore-Wha-?"

"I need Thunder for somethin', is he here?"

"Yeah, he's here. What's wrong?"

"Elizabeth and Chick are gone, man."

"Thunder!" Lightning shouted back into the cone, and Thunder flew outside, already running towards the impound. "He knows what to do." Lightning told Fillmore, who nodded and followed Thunder.

"I got him, man!" He called to Sheriff, who nodded, already speeding off after Thunder. Thunder was barking, trying to keep them caught up to him.

Chick heard his barks, and snarled. "Nice try, but your precious puppy won't be able to reach you now." He grabbed Foxy, and dragged her quickly into the field. He hung her from a tree branch by the ropes she was tied up with, then departed quickly as Frank charged for them.

Suddenly, Fillmore charged at him from the side and rammed into him, sending him spinning in circles. "You stay away from her!" He shouted angrily, braking to prevent himself from going into a spin also.

When Chick finally stopped spinning, he was able to focus on Fillmore. "You?!" He shouted although he was slightly wary.

Fillmore had a hard glare in his eyes as he looked at Chick, who could see that Fillmore wasn't just mad, he was fuming. "Yeah, me. Elizabeth's best friend."

"Good luck getting her now, hippie." Chick replied with a snarl as he pointed towards Foxy.

Fillmore uttered an almost animal-like growl, and rammed into Chick again. Chick was getting ready to charge at Fillmore when a loud bellow rang out, and they froze and looked towards the orchard. Frank was charging towards them, and the tree Foxy was in was directly in his path. Fillmore raced into the field as fast as he could, and began trying to get her down. Thunder leapt the fence, and snapped the ropes apart with his teeth. Foxy fell out of the tree limply, and Fillmore caught her. He took one look at her, and noticed that she flopped as limply as a rag doll. His eyes flashed back towards Chick, blazing with hatred. He uttered another animal-like growl, and charged for Chick, after gently setting Foxy's limp form down on the ground.

Chick backed up in surprise, mumbling under his breath, "Oh, shit." He took off, and Fillmore tore after him, leaving Thunder to look after Foxy. Fillmore swooped in from the side, and rammed Chick. Chick veered to the right, then regained control and kept driving. Fillmore rammed him in the other side, sending Chick flying to the left, making him hit a cactus. Chick regained control again after screaming in agony, and kept running. Fillmore grunted and rammed his fender into Chick's right quarter panel, sending him spinning rapidly. Still it wasn't enough to stop Chick from trying to get away, and Fillmore charged forwards, trying to ram into Chick's back bumper.

"Fillmore, wait!" Sheriff shouted, charging after him.

Thunder barked, Foxy flopping limply on his back as he followed after them, running away from Frank, who was charging after them. Frank stopped at the fence line, but Thunder kept going. He tried to catch up to Fillmore and Sheriff and Chick, but they were too far gone.

Fillmore geared up for another hit to Chick's side, and sent him spinning in fast, tight circles, into a tree. He rammed Chick into the tree repeatedly as hard as he could, not even hearing the trunk splintering.

It was as though he was blind and deaf to everything beyond causing Chick pain. He seemed to blank out, then really started to injure Chick, ramming him harder and harder against the tree, seemingly oblivious to Chick's screams of pain, or the sharp, loud cracks coming from Chick's undercarriage as numerous things broke. He snarled and rammed Chick into the tree trunk hoodfirst, his brown eyes full of nothing but anger, his mind full of nothing but a constant repetition of 'You're to blame for Foxy's death! You! It's all your fault that she's gone!' and the memory of the soldiers shooting at him when he ran back to the safety of his dome in Kentucky.

'I can't escape this hell, so many times I've tried. But I'm still caged inside. Somebody get me through this nightmare, I can't control myself! So what if you can see, the darkest side of me! No one will ever change this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real me! Somebody help me tame this animal! (This animal, this animal.) I can't escape myself, so many times I've lied! But there's still rage inside! Somebody get me through this nightmare, I can't control myself! So what if you can see, the darker side of me! No one will ever change this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real me! Somebody help me tame this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real me! Somebody help me tame this animal! Somebody help me through this nightmare, I can't control myself! Somebody wake me from this nightmare, I can't escape this hell! (This animal, this animal. This animal, this animal. This animal, this animal.) This animal! So what if you can see, the darkest side of me! No one will ever change this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real me! Somebody help me tame this animal I have become. Help me believe, it's not the real me! Somebody help me tame this animal! This animal I have become! '

Fillmore continued pinning Chick more and more against the tree trunk, which was breaking. He wanted to show Chick how much pain he had caused Foxy, and after that thought, everything had gone blank. He reversed, and rammed into Chick's side again and again, crushing him like a soda can and creating numerous large, deep dents in his sides.

He didn't even feel the oil splattering across his front from Chick's injuries, just continued mauling him.

Sheriff caught up, and wailed his sirens. "Fillmore, Fillmore, stop! You're gonna kill him!" Sheriff shouted in a panic.

Fillmore shook his front end, blinking rapidly as though coming out of a daze. He spotted Chick smashed against the tree trunk, completely limp, covered in oil and dents, and backed away, looking at the scene in horror, his eyes wide as he looked upon the horrid scene. No, this couldn't be his fault. He hated violence, because it never solved anything. He was supposed to be all for peace, and love, not THIS. No, he couldn't have done this, there was no possible way. It wasn't possible. He hadn't thought that the memories of the soldiers shooting at him would cause this.

He fled the scene abruptly, heading back the way he had come. "No, no, it ain't true. It ain't true, man." He repeated desperately. He discovered Foxy and Thunder, and drove over to them quickly. "Is she okay, man?" He asked, shaking slightly, his eyes still slightly widened with fear, oil from Chick splattered across his front.

Foxy moaned, wriggling slightly. Fillmore sighed with relief, and hugged her tightly. "You're all right, Elizabeth."

She whimpered, struggling against the ropes. Fillmore backed up, and just then seemed to see that she was tightly bound and gagged, his eyes growing wide with horror. He quickly dug through her pockets, looking for her knife. She leaned to the left, and Fillmore began checking the pockets on her right side. He soon found it, and found the serrated edge blade. He cut through the ropes slowly, his wheels shaking so badly he was afraid to do it any faster for fear that he would cut her by accident.

Finally, the ropes fell away, and she spat the rag out. "Fillmore, y-you saved me."

He nodded, and Foxy sensed a flicker of horror in his eyes.

"What's wrong? And why are you covered in oil?" She asked, then tried to sit up, wincing. "Ohh, ow." She hissed.

"Nothin', man. It's nothin'." He replied quickly, not wanting to worry her.

"Fillmore, please. Just tell me." Foxy pleaded, beginning to get slightly scared.

"Can ya get up?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"I-I don't think so."

Just then, Sheriff rolled over to them.

"You all right, Foxy?"

Foxy winced as she shook her head slightly, and Sheriff looked over at Thunder. Before he had said a word, Foxy was already on Thunder's back, her arms around his throat.

"Where's Chick, man?" Fillmore asked, dreading the answer.

"I put him back in the impound lot." Sheriff replied, and Fillmore looked confused.

"But ain't the gate broken?"

Sheriff nodded, then replied that he had Lightning watching Chick. "I doubt that he'll get very far with them injuries."

"I-Injuries?" Foxy cut in quietly, looking at the two of them in slight horror.

"Yeah. Fillmore chased him down. Did a heck of a job on him."

Fillmore nearly melted into the ground. "I-I don't know what happened. One minute I was chasin' him, then next I was attackin' him, and then it was all blanked out. It was too trippy."

"I saw the part where you hit him in the side and sent him spinning. That was a great shot, Fillmore." Foxy replied gently, and Fillmore shook his front end firmly.

"No, I shouldn't have done it, Elizabeth. It wasn't the right thing to do." Foxy looked at him worriedly, and quietly began speaking.

"Fillmore, listen to me. Sometimes it's necessary to use violence, even if you don't normally do things like that." She reached over and gently set her hand on his side. "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. And that one person is me, Fillmore. Please, it's all right. I'm just glad that you aren't hurt."

Fillmore sighed, and she could tell that he still wasn't happy.

"I finished slicing and juicing the apples, Fillmore." She said softly, almost in a purr, and he turned to look in her direction.

"Ya did?"

She nodded, then winced. "Yeah, I did, but I only got about a foot of juice. Is that right?"

He nodded. "Sounds about right. Depends on how much ya want to make, man."

Foxy smiled, and nodded. "Now what do we put in?"

"Pretty much anythin' ya want, Elizabeth."

They arrived in town, Chick backing up limpingly when he spotted Fillmore.

"I'll take it from here, kid." Sheriff told Lightning, who nodded, then pulled up next to Fillmore.

"You got him good, Fillmore. He got what he deserved."

Fillmore shook his front end as Thunder padded next to him on his left and Lightning rolled at his side on the right. "Nobody deserved that, man."

"Fillmore..." Foxy said warningly, and Fillmore fell silent, allowing himself a small smile.

Lightning laughed, and asked Foxy if she was okay.

"I think he broke a few things when he threw me into the tractor field, but otherwise, I'm okay."

"I'll kill him." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Lightning, don't do it. If it doesn't work you'll get arrested."

Lightning sent a glare in Chick's direction, but continued driving alongside Fillmore. "It'll work. He still deserves it."

Foxy sighed, then gave Fillmore a halfhearted smile as Thunder trotted into Doc's, her long, red-and-yellow hair lifting up slightly in the light breeze that was blowing.

Fillmore wasn't sure if he should follow her inside or not, and decided against it. He drove back over to his dome, but couldn't keep from pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He hadn't wanted to hurt Chick, just try and catch him for Sheriff. He didn't know how it had gone downhill so quickly, other then the fact that he wanted to protect Foxy. "Bad trip, man." He muttered aloud, then sighed. He should go ask Sarge what to do. Sarge always knew what to do.

And yet, it seemed as though he couldn't stop pacing, staring down into the avocado green shag carpet sullenly.

He didn't know how long he had been pacing, but looked up eagerly when he heard his beaded curtain move. Walking into his dome was Thunder, with Foxy still on his back. Thunder wagged his tail, and gently sat down, sliding Foxy off carefully into her beanbag chair.

"Good boy, Thunder." She whispered, then konked out, the painkillers Doc had given her taking effect. Thunder wagged his tail again, then pulled the blanket over her and trotted out the door, leaving the two alone.

Fillmore drove over to Foxy's side, and looked down at her with a half smile. He gently nudged the bean bag chair into a more comfortable shape for her, then winced slightly. He looked down, going cross-eyed, and sure enough, saw a few dents in his front end. He sighed, then laid down next to Foxy, gently petting and fondling her hair.

She rolled over to face him, and just as he tried to back away to avoid disturbing her, she kissed him in her sleep. His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't, couldn't back away. Instead, he gently leaned forwards, his eyes falling shut happily and his engine purring quietly as he returned the kiss.

*jawdrop* Did anyone see the ending coming? :)