I'm back with two brand new chapters, everyone! This first one is pretty short and most of it follows what's in the movie. I didn't think Fudge should be in the main scene in this chapter (she does appear in the chapter, though), but I felt like it was too important to leave out. So, I decided to upload two just this once! Enjoy.

Chapter 26- Best Part of Hud's Life

"You didn't come all this way for a quart of oil, did you?" Smokey asked once they were outside the bar, even though he knew the answer.

"I need your help, Smokey", Lightning informed him.

"Yeah? What kind of help?"

They came to a stop and Lightning turned around to face him. "That's just it. I... I'm not sure", he admitted. "All I know is if I lose in Florida... it's over for me. What happened to Doc will happen to me."

"Well, what did happen to him?" Smokey quizzed the race car.

"You know, racing was the... best part of his life and when it ended, he..." Lightning trailed off. "Oh, we both know he was never the same after that."

Smokey looked at him. "Is that what you think?"

Lightning didn't answer.

"Come on." The older truck was beginning to drive off. "I wanna show you something."

Lightning followed Smokey over to his garage, which was advertised as the "Best Dang Garage in Town". The drive was short and the road was quiet. Nobody was around, except for Herman, who was by the side of the road, munching on some vegetation. He looked their way curiously, but didn't move and didn't make any noise.

"You got the first part right", Smokey explained. "The crash broke Hud's body and the no more racing broke his heart. He cut himself off, disappeared to Radiator Springs. Son of a gun didn't talk to me for fifty years. But then one day, the letters started comin' in..." They arrived at Smokey's garage and the owner rolled up the door.

When Lightning saw what was inside, he was instantly overwhelmed. There were letters, photos and newspaper clippings about him everywhere, filling up an entire wall. There were photos of him at racetracks and even Willy's Butte. Some of them depicted Fudge up on Lightning's roof.

"And every last one of them was about you", Smokey finished. After Lightning had stared at the wall in silence, the pickup truck continued. "Yeah. Hud loved racing. But coaching you?" After a pause, he added, glancing at one of the Willy's Butte photos, "And I guess Fudge, to some extent." He sighed. "I'd never seen the old grump so happy. Racin' wasn't the best part of Hud's life. You were."

With those words, Smokey, sensing that McQueen needed to be alone, slipped out quietly. The stock car didn't even notice.


One particular photo- one of Doc up on the crew chief platform with Lightning beneath it- caught Lightning's attention and a flood of memories came rushing back to the race car. He could easily picture Willy's Butte and hear Doc's gravelly voice.

"You ready to blow out a little carbon there, boy?" Doc quizzed him.

"Yes I am!"

The next memory consisted of him crashing into a ravine full of cacti near the dirt track, screaming.

Of course, Doc had been unable to resist having a laugh at his expense.

"Give it too much throttle, you in the tulips!" he called, laughing.

His next memory shifted away from the dirt track and took him to Doc's garage where he'd spend many hours watching old films of Doc's old races.

"Hey, Lightnin'!" Doc had called out one day while the younger racer was doing just that. "You might wanna take notes on this one!"

Lightning laughed at the sight of Doc balancing several items, including a fire extinguisher and a tyre on his hood. When it all collapsed, with the tyre still hanging on his grille, Doc joined in with the laughter.

The next memory that came to mind was racing by Willy's Butte. Lightning remembered exactly when it was: Fudge's tenth birthday. Fudge was on Doc's roof and her tenth birthday was the only day Doc let Fudge race with him. He remembered catching up to Doc after exiting the quarter pipe. As he shot past, he could hear Doc and Fudge's laughter behind him.


Now, gazing up at that photo of him and Doc on the wall in Smokey's garage, Lightning could hear Doc's voice echo the words he'd heard used so many times, the first time being after the 2006 tiebreaker race.

"You got a lot of stuff, kid."

Lightning was beginning to get really emotional. There had been countless times since his mentor's passing that he could feel his presence close by such as while he was racing (both on asphalt and by Willy's Butte); during Fudge's recovery from the accident; when he'd come to him in a dream to show him where Fudge was when she went missing; even a couple of hours ago, arriving in Thomasville. However, none of them came close to how strong he was feeling Doc's presence here in Smokey's garage. He hadn't even been there five minutes and he was so drawn to the place. He never wanted to leave.

When he was finally able to force himself out of the garage after a long time, McQueen found not only Smokey but Fudge waiting for him. She'd even thrown on a denim jacket since he'd last seen her.

"Wh- What are you doing here?" he stammered, looking to his sister. It was hard for him to speak when he was so overwhelmed. "Shouldn't you be inside with the others?"

"I was just grabbing my stuff from the trailer 'cause Sammy insisted that I stay with her and I ran into Smokey. He told me what he was showing you and I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Racing wasn't the best part of Doc's life!" Lightning blurted out. "I was!" He shook his hood in disbelief. "He never told me. How come he never told me?"

"I'm sure he did", Fudge assured him. "He's told you in a million different ways."

Lightning gave her a warm smile, but Fudge's words made him want to cry even more. The human girl gave him a hug and as he hugged her back, Lightning couldn't help letting some tears escape. He was crying out of some happiness at hearing that he was the best part of Doc's life, sadness over how much he missed Doc and just a lot of high emotions from the sights he'd just seen. Fudge just hugged him and let him cry, completely unsure of what to say. Smokey just reversed back to give the two space and watched them in silence.

Lightning only let himself cry for a couple of minutes before calming down. It wasn't until he had done so that Smokey spoke again.

"Hud saw somethin' in you that you don't even see in yourself", he informed Lightning. "Are you ready to go find it?"

Lightning's face hardened into a look of determination. "Yes, sir."

"Follow me", Smokey ordered, heading towards the dirt track.

"Fudge!" a familiar voice called out. Cruz appeared, coming from the Cotter Pin. "Where've you been?"

"Long story", the sixteen-year-old replied, not sure if she should tell Cruz.

"Where are you going now?"

"To the track", Smokey responded. "Come with us if you want."

"Okay..." Although Cruz sounded unsure, she looked quite eager to follow.

Smokey led the way to the dirt track and switched on the stadium lights.

"Now, I want you to do a couple of laps as fast as you can", he instructed Lightning.

"Now?"

"Yes. Now."

Lightning shot off, leaving the other three behind. He did a couple of laps before Smokey called out, "All right, all right! Bring it back!"

The race car obeyed and re-joined Smokey, Cruz and Fudge.

"Lesson one", Smokey, not one to beat around the bush, began. "You're old. Accept it."

"I told him that!" Cruz proclaimed proudly.

"He's probably losing his hearing", Smokey informed her.

"He says you're old and los-" Cruz started in a loud voice.

"I heard him", Lightning cut her off in a deadpan while Fudge giggled.

"You'll never be as fast as Storm", Smokey went on, "but you can be smarter than him."

"Okay", Lightning agreed. "What do I do?"

Smokey drove around the race car, looking him up and down. "They said you were in a demolition derby."

"Yeah! It was terrible! And I almost-"

"You sure?" the pickup truck interrupted him. "'Cause there's not a scratch on you."

McQueen looked over his body and saw that Smokey was right.

"Funny what a racer can do when he's not overthinking things."

"Wait. So, you want me to be smarter, but also think less?" Lightning was puzzled.

"You're all horizontal", Fudge informed him, giggling as she waved her arm up and down, "and you need to be more vertical." She waved her arm from side to side. (Friends reference!)

Smokey nodded, ignoring Fudge. "That's right." Seeing how confused the race car in front of him was, he added, "I'll show you what I mean in the morning. Why don't you get some rest? We got a lot of work to do tomorrow."

As usual, I hope you enjoyed and will leave a review before moving on to the next one. Thanks in advance!