Crusher groaned as he drove through the woods with Blaze and AJ. The rivals were all muddy and mucky, two things that he HATED, but he knew he was suppose to get the ball he threw.
Not that he meant to. He just HATED mud.
"Why did I even agree to help..." Crusher groaned under his breath as he reluctantly followed his rivals.
They zoomed through some mud puddles, with the dark blue truck avoiding getting his tires muddy. They soon found the ball in a large puddle of mud.
"Hey, look there's the ball guys!" AJ exclaimed while pointing at the mud puddle.
Blaze went to grab it. "Got it! Now, let's head back to the--"
Before he could finish, however, something muddy below him began to rise up, carrying him up. Crusher was frozen in place while AJ gasped.
"Um... What is that guys?" AJ asked.
"I-Is that some sort of mud monster...?" Crusher mumbled nervously.
"Um, hello?" Blaze gulped.
"Oh, sorry!" The creature laughed as he set Blaze down. "I didn't mean to startle you!"
"Wow thanks! Also sorry for standing on your head!" Blaze apologized to the muddy creature.
"It's alright! My name is Gasquatch! And you?"
"I'm Blaze! And that's AJ and Crusher." Blaze said introducing himself along with AJ and his rival.
"Hi, Gasquatch!" AJ greeted. "Uh, what exactly are you?"
"I'm a truck, I just live in the forest and I really love mud!" Gasquatch explained.
"Wow, you really do!" Blaze let out a laugh. "We could hardly recognize you as a truck with all the mud you're covered in!"
"Yup, I'm always covered in mud! And hair..." Gasquatch exclaimed, mumbling the last part under his breath.
"Eek, mud," Crusher gagged. "I HATE mud."
"Woah, woah Crusher hate is a strong word. You can't just throw it around like that." Blaze stated.
"I use hate on you, so yes, I pretty much can," Crusher deadpanned.
"Of course he responds with something like that..." Blaze mumbled under his breath.
"Um... Why do you hate mud?" Gasquatch asked.
"It's just so… bleh, icky," Crusher grimaced, glancing down at the mud. "I don't understand why you guys like it so much…"
"I don't like it. I LOVE it!" Gasquatch corrected.
"Nope, nope!" Crusher shook his head and started to back up. "I HATE, Hate HATE mud-- W-WOAH!"
Just as he drove backwards, he slipped on some mud and fell into the muddy puddle with a yelp and a groan.
"See that's the spirit! The more you play with mud the less you'll hate it!" Gasquatch exclaimed, before jumping in and joining Crusher in the puddle.
"I think he may hate mud even more now..." AJ whispered to Blaze.
"Yep," Blaze sighed.
Crusher tried to get out of the mud, but only managed to slip back inside. He growled as he glared up at the brown truck before his eyes settled on the chassis bag on his sides.
The familiar chassis bag.
Crusher squinted and stared at the chassis bag, trying to remember where he has seen it before and why it felt so familiar. Crusher's mind went 1000 miles an hour, or at least it seemed like it did trying to remember where and why he's it before, and why it had felt so familiar. Crusher was almost fully absorbed in his thoughts until the voice of Blaze snapped him out of it.
"Well, Gasquatch, since you love mud so much, would you like to come with us to mudfest?" Blaze asked.
"Would I? I would love too!" Gasquatch replied eagerly.
"Great! Come on, guys, let's go!" AJ urged them.
Crusher grumbled as he hopped out of the mud. He stared at himself before gagging.
"Yup, he definitely hates mud more now..." AJ whispered to Blaze who nodded in agreement.
"Yay! Mudfest, here I come!" Gasquatch cheered.
"Well, I'm DEFINITELY not coming." Crusher hissed.
"Aw, come on Crusher it'll be fun, just think about all the fun stuff you could do!" Blaze encouraged.
"Like?"
"Um... Like..."
Blaze paused and thought for a moment before coming up a with a response.
"Like hanging out with your 'mega best friend'. But if you still don't want to come I won't force you to." Blaze responded.
"Ugh, fine…" Crusher sighed and shook the mud off. "But I'm getting this mud off of me first,"
"What's the point of getting mud off? You're going to get more mud on yourself at mudfest." AJ asked.
"Is that a challenge? To not get muddy on mudfest?" Crusher smirked. "Challenge accepted."
"Man, you really hate mud, don't you?" Gasquatch chuckled. "You kinda remind me of someone who also hates mud,"
"Huh, I thought Crusher was the only monster machine that hated mud last time I checked." Blaze said.
"Ha ha, well, right now, he is since the monster machine I'm talking about-" Gasquatch paused himself before sighing. "She… She's been gone for a long time now,"
"Oh... Sorry for reminding you of a bad memory Gasquatch, you don't need to talk about it if you don't want to." Blaze apologized.
"Thanks…" Gasquatch smiled. "Now come on, let's head to MUDFEST!"
"Alright! Just wait until our friends see you!" AJ said enthusiastically.
As they drove off, however, Crusher narrowed his eyes at the brown truck.
Everything about him just felt so… familiar.
Very familiar.
But where had he seen him before…?