Ch.3: Shots In The Dark

The race between Bubba and Mater was agreed to take place during the Halloween Festival tomorrow, as a main event. No one had ever before seen two tow trucks race againist each other, so it was sure to be one for the history books.

Needless to say, later that evening, the Radiator Springs residents attitudes about Bubba didn't change after the guy checked himself into the Cozy Cone for the night. They were still mad about the tow truck's nasty insults towards Mater, and thier minds were rolling in curiousity.

"Mater" said Lightning " just who is that guy?"

"Me and Bubba have been rivals for years" said Mater " back down at the ol' Rustbucket Staduim we worked day and night towing in all sorts of cars off the track, waiting for a golden oppurtunity to strike up,"

"When Doc came to Rustbucket in search for a tow truck, Bubba bet if he could beat me in a race all the towing rights would belong to him. I agreed to it, but Doc came back the next morning and told everyone he had chosen me for the job. He never said why, only that he had a very good reason not to trust Bubba with the job,"

"Sounds like he found something wrong with Bubba's record" said Finn, turning towards Holley " Holley, you search the criminal records while I keep an eye on Bubba. I have a feeling this tow truck doesn't know the meaning of fair play,"

With that said, a few minutes later, Finn had himself on stakeout near the Cozy Cones to keep a watch on every move that Bubba made. Mater's life may be in danger as long as the orange tow truck was around, and he wasn't willing to let that happen.

From the shadows of the darkness, a pair of red eyes stared over at Finn as he watched Bubba's cone, a wicked grin plastered on his face.

"So" thought Gear as he watched his nemisis " this is where you run off to hide. Then this whole town will suffer just like they did. Get ready for a real scare,"

With nothing more eventful happening that night, Gear slipped away to prepare his plan, while Finn continued to stand guard over the cone unaware that his enemey had even followed him here.

The next evening, the Halloween Festival was in full swing and everyone was having fun bobbing for fuel and the like. As the time drew close for Mater and Bubba to race Finn approached Holley and asked if she had discovered anything about Bubba's criminal past.

"Find anything useful?" asked Finn.

" No" said Holley, sounding defeated " I scanned over his criminal record again and again, but there all minor infractions. However, it seems like our friend Bubba is quite the businessman when it comes to towing rights,"

"What do you mean?" asked Finn.

"Turns out he already owns a bunch of towing rights outside of Radiator Springs" said Holley " the only ones he hasn't seemed to claim yet is Mater's,"

" So that's why he wants this job so badly" said Finn " so his company can earn more money,"

"Sounds like a real creep to me," said Lightning driving up to the two spies.

"Oh, Hello McQueen," said Finn, a little shocked to see the red racecar.

"Hi" said Lightning " Bubba and Mater are making their way to the Butte to get ready for the race. I tried to convince Mater to use his rocket boosters, but he refused,"

"Doesn't sound like a surprise" said Finn, with a grin " after all, he is a very honorable fellow,"

"Well let's go down there and see how it's going to turn out," said Holley, driving off. Finn and Lightning following soon behind her.

The race cousre around Willie's Butte had been set, with the trail lit up by a harvest of jack o'laterns. Mater and Bubba took their place at the starting line, while everyone else gathered around the top of Butte to watch the race.

"Please let Mater win," Lightning begged in his mind.

Down below, the Shieriff just got done explaining the rules to the two racers and signaled Luigi to start the race. Once the yellow car waved that green flag, both Mater and Bubba took off in a dash.

"One lap" thought Mater as he raced " that's all I need to win, one lap,"

That thought stayed in the old, rusty tow truck's mind as he and Bubba started to enter the big, stonewall curb. From the shadows, some distance away, Gear stood ready with a large gun cocked, pointing it at the two racers.

" Say goodbye to your friends McMissle," said Gear, and with that activated his gun.

A biraadge of missles suddenly launched themselves at the track, taking the racers and the residents by surprise. Mater and Bubba were nearing the dirt curb where Lightning had a little trouble in, when five of the missles exploded right nearby.

One missle in particular exploded to close to Bubba, and as he swerved to avoid it, he ended up falling into the infamous catcus patch where McQueen had gotten stuck many times before.

The other four missles exploded closeby to Mater, spooking the tow truck, making him activate his rocket boosters and win the race. The tow truck didn't stop going until he plowed his way into the crowd, and was grappled to a stop by Finn.

"Whew" said Mater, looking at his spy friend " thanks,"

"No problem," said Finn.

"Mater are you alright?" asked Sally driving up with Lightning " what happened? Where did all those missles come from?"

" I don't know" said Finn " but I'm gonna find out,"

"Well" said Lightning, dissapiontly looking at Mater " I guess this race is wash, even though you did cross the finish line,"

"Yeah" said Mater " speaking of which, has anyone seen Bubba?"

"I'm down here you buffoon!" yelled Bubba from the cactus patch.

"Ooo" said Holley, as she looked down at the orange tow truck " that has to hurt, but he kind of deserved it,"

Mater instantly swung his towline down and started to pull Bubba up, and looked blushly towards Holley.

"Miss Holley" said Mater shyly " if your not doing anything tomorrow night, would you mind going on a...,"

Holley grinned as the tow truck stmbled over the word, and gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek.

"Of course I'll go on a date with you," Holley whispered back.

Finn, Lightning, and Sally smiled as the two lovebirds smiled at each other, glad at least something good had come out of this chaotic night. But Finn's mind was still on the missle attack, and the possible car that caused it.

From the shadows, Gear grinned wickedly as he watched Finn muddle his mind in confusion.

"Think all you want Finn" whispered Gear " but this game has fallen into my hands,"