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Rated M for language and sex.
Chapter 13-Disaster Strikes
Racing supernatant Fabio grabbed Lightning as soon as he left the track and took him to his tent. "You know what I need Champ." Fabio said as he handed Lightning a cup. "Fill it up." They had a long wait before his win could made official. The antibiotics that Lightning had been taking earlier in the week was still in his system and it showed up in his urine. "This is why we went through the trouble of documenting your injury." Doc said while they were waiting the results of the drug screening. Once the racing supernatant cleared the Lightning of any wrongdoing, the results of the race were made official. Lightning turned into victory lane, accepted his first place prize and answered a few questions from the press. Then he drove back to his pit area. "How's the axle doing?" Doc asked. "Pretty good," Lightning said. He leaned onto his front right axle and smiled. "Good," Doc said, obviously pleased. "It's a lot better than it was a few days ago, huh?" Lightning laughed. "Much," he said, remembering the disastrous training session again. During the session, he had not been able to get around the track more than ten times at one hundred miles per hour before stopping and sitting on ice for an hour. "Good," Doc said. "Load up then. It's on to Seattle." "Sounds good to me," Lightning said. "But when can I get my staples out?" Doc said. "Wait till we get to Seattle, Kiddo. The more time you have to heal the better."
Three days later, Lightning was training at the Seattle track. "Go ahead and pick up a little speed" Doc said through the intercom system. "Okay," Lightning said. Going down the straight, he sped up to over one hundred miles per hour. Lightning drove deep into the corner only to spin out and hit the wall. "Ouch!" he said. "Are you okay, Rookie?" he asked. "Yeah," Lightning said, "How am I supposed to drive into the corners at top speed?" "These turns have always been a little tricky," The track was unusual, it was more of a triangle than an oval, and a lot more challenging for the racecars to race around the track. "These corners are tricky; it takes a couple of days of practicing to get used to them." He picked up speed again and tried a few more turns, bumping into the wall each time. "Try power sliding around the corners," Doc said. "I'm not on dirt, Doc," Lightning said. "I'll just burn rubber on the track." "You'd be surprised," Doc said. "Just try it." "Okay," Lightning said, almost hesitantly. He drove into the corner again at top speed. Lightning threw his axles to the right and floored his throttle. He made it around the corner successfully. "This is awesome!" Lightning exclaimed. "Good job, Kiddo," Doc said. "That'll do for today." "Okay, Doc," Lightning said. "So I'm supposed to power slide around every turn?" "Yep" Doc replied. "Now go ice your axle."
Over the next few days, Lightning practiced power sliding around all the turns. "You've got it down," Doc said Friday after Lightning's training session. "I think that you can take tomorrow off." "Alright" Lightning said, almost thankful. He was afraid all the power sliding was going to hurt his axle. It had not been bothering him too much, but Lightning did not want to re-injure himself, this close to the end of the season. "I want to check your axle," Doc said once they were off the track. Lightning followed Doc to the medical building and drove up onto the examining table. "It's still has some swelling" Doc said. "But it looks really good." "Maybe it's because the staples need to come out" Lightning said hopefully. "I doubt that" Doc said, giving Lightning a humored glance, "But I'm going to take them out anyway." "Thanks!" Lightning said happily. The last few days the staples had been incredibly itchy. "Uh huh, I know that it would a least shut you up for a while," Doc said, getting an appliance from a drawer that resembled a giant crow bar. Doc drove back to Lightning and took the staples out one by one. Once the last staple was out, Doc did a quick inspection of his axle. Doc took what looked like and ace bandage and tightly wrapped his axle. "You need to leave this rap on until after the race on Sunday." Doc said "Your axle is not completely healed and I don't want you re-injuring it." After Doc was done wrapping his axle, Lightning backed down the ramp. "Thanks, Doc" Lightning said His axle was very sore, but Lightning was satisfied. "No problem Rookie," Doc replied. "You're going to be sore for the rest of the day. Just don't do anything stupid, okay." "Okay," Lightning said. "What are you doing this afternoon?" "I'm a crew chief for the junior race this afternoon," Doc said.
The junior race was a race for young cars with potential for the Piston Cup when they get older. "Oh," Lightning said. Doc sometimes participates in the junior races. "Who are you a crew chief for?" "I don't know," Doc said. "I can't remember the kid's name…its one of Strip Weather's grandkids. He's one of Diamonds sons, only five years old. He's a big fan of yours though." "Huh," Lightning said. "I'd like to meet him." "You can co-crew chief if you want," Doc offered. "I thought you wanted me to relax and rest, but I'll be there" Lightning said. "I'll probably end up being a crew chief for my kids when they race, so it'll be good practice." "I'll like to see that" Doc said. "Be back here by twelve-thirty." "Okay," Lightning said. Lightning hobbled back to his trailer and watched television until twelve-thirty. Lightning drove slowly to his pit area where he saw Doc talking to a small navy blue car. "Hey," Lightning said driving up. "Hey, Rookie," Doc said. "This is Tripp Weathers." "Hi," Lightning said, smiling down at the young car. Tripp's eyes were wide as he looked up at Lightning. "You're L-L-Lightning M-McQueen," He managed to stutter. Lightning laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Are you ready to race" "Uh-huh," Tripp said, still looking dumbstruck. "Good" Lightning said. He put a pair of headphones on. "Junior racers get onto the track!" the load speakers called. "Go ahead, Kiddo," Doc said. "Do your best." "Okay," Tripp said in a small voice. He turned around and drove with all the other junior competitors to the track. "He's gonna be too distracted to race now that he talked with you," Doc mused. Lightning chuckled "I would have done the same thing if I had met the King growing up. I idolized him" Doc laughed "Are you ready, Tripp?" "Yes sir," Tripp said quietly through the intercom system. "Just relax, Kid," Doc said. "You'll do fine" An hour later, Tripp finished fourth out of twenty cars. "Good job!" Doc said as Tripp drove up to he and Lightning "Thanks" Tripp said "You're welcome" Doc said. "Go find your parents." "Okay," Tripp said. "Bye Mr. Hudson and Mr. McQueen." "Bye," Lightning said. "See ya, Kid," Doc said.
Sunday morning: Lightning woke up to a deafening boom of thunder. He opened his ramp and saw it was pouring down rain. "Oh that's just great" Lightning mumbled. He drove down the ramp into the downpour, next door to Doc's trailer. "Is the race canceled?" Lightning asked. "No!" Doc said, obviously outraged. "They should postpone the race until it stops raining, but they insist on running it! I've been fussing at the officials all morning, but they won't listen to me." "What time is it?" Lightning asked "Ten," Doc said. "The race starts in three hours." "Should I still power slide in the corners?" "No," Doc said. "Not when the track is as wet as it is, your going to have traction problems anyway." "How many cars have scratched?" "Three," Doc said. "But none of the top competitors" Lightning nodded. "I guess I'd better get ready to race then." Five hours later, Lightning was racing along the backside of the track. It was still raining has hard as ever. "What place am I in, Doc?" Lightning asked, squinting through the downpour. "I can't tell," Doc said. "It's raining too hard for me to see the infield tower." "Okay," Lightning said. "There's a caution flag out," Doc said. "But I have no clue where the wreck is." Lightning kept going down the straight at one hundred miles per hour. Three quarters of the way down the straight, he saw the faint glow of taillights. "I think I'm coming up on the wreck." Lightning said "Just be careful." Doc responded "I will" Lightning said. Lightning kept going, slowing down. But suddenly it was not a faint glow anymore. It was a full-defined taillight three feet away from Lightning's hood. He gasped and threw his front wheels to the left to avoid the wrecked car. He heard a crack that echoed through the stadium. Lightning felt a severe, intense pain coming from his axle and knew it was broken. "Doc," Lightning groaned his voice full of pain. "I just broke my axle." "I'm on my way," Doc said.