After a few more weeks of calming down, Crusher finally returned to the Monster Dome to race, not that anyone missed him, apart from Blaze and their friends. He didn't zoom as fast as he used to, parts of him still sore from the torture, so he didn't win any races.

Stripes and AJ, Starla, Watts and Gabby didn't try anything while he was there. Not that they wouldn't, but apparently they couldn't with the police always on the lookout.

For the following week, everything went smoothly and uneventful, except for a few double dates between Crusher and Blaze, and Darington and Pickle. The police were still currently in investigation, and there had been no news of any breakthrough so far, so everything was still perfectly fine...

Until one day...

.

.

.

"Come on, Darington, you can't just kick us out of the skate park like this!" Stripes cried out as Darington pushed him and AJ out.

"Excuse ME, but I LIVE in this skate park," Darington huffed. "I bought this park, and it is my property legally, so I CAN kick you out if I want to, so LEAVE!"

"Stripes, let's just go," AJ told him, his voice slightly irritated and annoyed. Since he and Blaze fell apart in friendship, he was a little down and angry at times.

"Fine," the tiger truck huffed and turned to leave.

Just as he did, Crusher came to the park. The stunt truck beamed at the sight of him.

"Hey, Crusher!" he greeted.

"Hey, Darington," Crusher returned the greeting with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Darington sighed. "Just... a little stressed out, that's all,"

"HEY!" the duo jumped to see Stripes snarling. "How is THIS CHEATER ALLOWED IN THE PARK BUT I'M NOT?!"

"For one thing, HE didn't just kidnapped and attempted to kill someone out of bias, hatred and spite," Darington shot back. Good thing Pickle was teaching him how to sass people out.

"HE HAS TRIED TO KILL US!" Stripes yelled. "MULTIPLE TIMES! HE'S EVEN KICKED YOU OUT OF YOUR OWN SHOW ONCE!"

"He's apologized, and he and Pickle had even helped distract the crowd on some of my shows that slightly failed," Darington replied smoothly.

"ONE APOLOGY DOESN'T TAKE BACK EVERYTHING HE'S DONE TO US!" Stripes roared out. "HOW COULD YOU EVEN FORGIVE HIM FOR EVERYTHING'S HE'S DONE?!"

"Pickle is quite convincing," Darington shrugged.

"ARGH!" Stripes snarled and grabbed the dark blue truck by the exhaust pipe.

"GAH!" Crusher yelped, eyes shutting in the pain.

"Stripes, LET HIM GO!" Darington growled.

"Stripes, stop, you're making a scene!" AJ told him off, looking around for any police. "Too public!"

"I don't CARE anymore, AJ, I just can't STAND him any longer!" Stripes dragged the dark blue truck by the pipe out of the park.

Before he could go any further, however, a tire grabbed him and pushed him away from the dark blue truck. The tiger truck hissed and glared at the defender.

"Hey! Mind your own business!"

"I WOULD if YOU stop bothering other trucks," the white truck spoke, smoothing out his long, silky red hair.

"Speedrick!" Darington lit up as he helped Crusher up. "Wow, how did you get a truck form so fast?"

"Blaze met up with me earlier," Speedrick gave them a smile, helping the dark blue truck up as well. "You okay, lightning boy?"

"Y-Yeah," Crusher shakily nodded.

"OKAY, THAT DOES IT!" Starla zoomed towards them, looking just as enraged as she helped the tiger truck up on his tires. "YOU CHEATING IMBECILE! YOU'VE HURT US FOR THE LAST TIME!"

"Back off, cowgirl," Speedrick huffed. "First of all, YOUR FRIEND here was the one who tried to kill Crusher first. Second, he might be a cheater, but at least he didn't try to kill a person on purpose!"

"HE'S TRIED TO KILL US SO MANY TIMES THAT I COMPLETELY LOST COUNT!" Watts yelled, driving to her girlfriend's side with Gabby.

"NOT ON PURPOSE!" Darington hissed. "HE'S TRIED TO KILL US, YES, BUT NOT ON PURPOSE!"

"Come on, Darington, Speedrick, I... I don't want any of us to make a scene," Crusher whispered as he felt his exhaust pipe begin to leak oil as it tilted.

"Good idea," Speedrick agreed before pulling on the stunt truck. "Come on, shooting star, let's go,"

Darington huffed but turned away with them before they all drove off to Crusher and Blaze's apartment.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes watched the whole scene unfold...

X

"Crusher! Are you okay?!" Blaze dashed towards his lover. "Rick, Darington, what happened?!"

"Tiger boy tried to hurt him again," Speedrick shook his head.

"Come on, Crushy, let's get you inside and fixed," Blaze urged his lover towards him.

Crusher nodded and smiled as he was taken in. Pickle was already there and was ready with a toolbox to help fix the pipe. Speedrick got into a conversation with Darington and Zeg while Blaze got a bowl of ice cream and fed his shaky boyfriend some.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, causing them all to stiffen. Blaze slowly set the bowl down before heading to the door.

"Who's there?"

"Blaze, it's us," his mother's voice echoed through the wood.

"Oh, no, no, no," Blaze shook his head. "I told you to LEAVE me and Crusher alone,"

"Blaze, please, we just want to talk," his father's voice spoke.

Blaze sighed and gave his friends and lover a reassuring look before opening the door and heading out to face his family. He sighed and shut the door then he crossed his tires.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"We... saw what you're friends had done to Crusher in the park," Sparkle admitted. "And we wanted to say... sorry for what we said,"

"We... We didn't believe you when you said that Crusher was being victimized by so many people just because of your relationship with him," Flame apologized.

"We see it now, and we're sorry if we doubted you, son," Pheonix added. "We... We just thought that we knew what was best for you,"

"Is there anything that we could do to make it up to you and Crusher?" Sparkle asked.

"..." Blaze thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, follow me,"

He led the three inside the apartment. Everyone turned to them in shock, with Crusher looking rather frightened unsure. Blaze drove to him and held his tires reassuringly before turning back to his family.

"Say it to Crusher, and I will KNOW that you really ARE sorry,"

The family nodded and turned to the dark blue truck. "We're sorry,"

"It's fine," Crusher gave a smile. "It was pretty predictable anyway,"

"We saw how hard Stripes hurt you," Phoenix spoke up, driving forward to brush his exhaust pipe gently. "I'm so sorry,"

"It's... It's fine," Crusher shrugged. "It's not even the first time, anyway,"

"And with this much help, I hope that it would be the last," Blaze kissed his forehead and smiled.