I do not own Cars or any of its characters.
PIXAR AND DISNEY CLAIM THAT RIGHT.
READING ENJOYMENT ONLY
Please read and review! I need criticism and encouragements!
Rated M for language and sex.
Chapter 19-Training For The Big Race -
On the way to the Cozy Cone's office, Lightning noticed that it was quieter than usual in Radiator Springs. Serge and Fillmore had not started blaring their music yet. Enjoying the quiet morning, Lightning reached the Cozy Cone's office. "Hey," Sally said as Lightning entered the office. "Hey," Lightning replied. "What needs to be done wedding-wise?" "You're helping with wedding stuff?" Sally asked, raising an eyebrow. "I feel like I haven't exactly been a huge help," Lightning admitted, slightly sheepishly. "I feel a little guilty." "Don't worry about it," Sally said. "You have had a very busy racing schedule. So I'm handling all the wedding stuff." "So there's nothing I can do to help?" Lightning asked, eyeing his cozy cone hopefully. He was very tired, and would love to go take a nap. "You can keep me company while I do wedding stuff," Sally said. "Okay," Lightning agreed. "That sounds easy enough." "It is," Sally replied. "What are you doing?" Lightning asked, driving behind Sally's desk. "Sorting RSVPs, then we're going over to Flo's" Sally said. "So far only two people can't attend." "That's good," Lightning said. "Who can't come?" "A couple of my old friends," Sally said. "You don't know them." "Oh," Lightning said. "How many people have returned their RSVPs?" "Four hundred and fourteen so far, there are only a few dozen cars that we haven't heard from yet" Sally said. "Wow, that's a lot people." Lightning said. He helped Sally with the RSVPs. "Are you ready to go to Flo's?" Sally asked "She begged me allow her to make our wedding cake. So we need to finalize the plans so she can start getting everything ready." "Flo's making our wedding cake?" Lightning asked "I have two words for that yum, yum." Sally laughed as they headed across the street.
"Hi, Flo" Sally said as they pulled into the restaurant. "Were here to finalize plans for the wedding cake." "Hi Sally, Hi Sugar" Flo called from the back. "Give me a minute, and I'll be with you." When Flo was done giving instructions to her cook, she took them to her office. Being inside Flo's office had the impression of going back in time to at least the 70s. Motorama pictures were hung all over the walls, a disco ball hung over her desk, and there were pictures of herself in her glory days. Flo drove around to her desk and parked behind it. "I know that these are not perfect, but what do you think?" Flo asked as she showed them the finished drawings. Lightning and Sally looked them over. Lightning pointed different things that he liked. "What flavor would you like Stickers?" Sally asked "That's the one of the last things that we have to decide on." "Ugh… wedding cake flavor, I guess" Lightning said "I don't know, I didn't know that there were different kinds" Flo and Sally cracked up; they were laughing so hard that they nearly wet themselves. "Sugar" Flo said "You can have any flavor you want." "You mean if I wanted a chocolate cake with yellow and orange icing and have blue, green sprinkles, yellow lightning bolts on it." Lightning said playfully "You'll make it for me?" "Yes, but I don't think Sally would go for it" Flo said. Lightning and Sally liked what Flo had dawn up, and went with her original plans. Lightning stifled a yawn. "Are you okay?" Sally asked Lightning "Yeah," Lightning replied, I'm just very tired. I didn't realize how out of shape I was." "Go take a nap in the cone's lounge" Sally said. "We have decided on the major parts of the cake plans, Flo and I can finish it while you take a nap." "Sounds good to me" Lightning said as he drove to the lounge and parked on the couch that was the last thing he knew. Sally woke him up at dinner time. Sally closed up the office and they headed to her apartment for the night. "You want to stop by Flo's and get something for take away" he asked "I'm buying." Lightning winced as his axle had a sharp pain. "Go to the apartment" Sally said "I'll go to Flo's get dinner. What do you want?" "What ever she has ready" He said "I'm starving; besides if Flo is cooking tonight, it's all good." Lightning handed her his wallet and headed to the apartment, Sally headed to Flo's.
The next morning Doc woke Lightning up at six. "C'mon, Kid," Doc said. "Time to train, so get your lazy butt out of bed." Lightning groaned and opened his eyes. He opened the door to his cozy cone and rolled out. "We're doing some serous training today," Doc said. "The fun never stops with you does it" Lightning yawned. "Very funny, Rookie. You're keeping the brace on all the time?" Doc asked. "Yeah," Lightning said, gently stretching. Lightning winced as he stretched a little more then he should and his injured axle balked at the request. "Good," Doc said. "I want you to wear it constantly. I don't want to mess up the alignment of your axles. If it heals in the wrong position, I'll have to re-break it and then you won't be racing for a while." "I know," Lightning said, grimacing at the thought. "All right" Doc said. "Now let's get you down to Willy's Butte to train." "Okay," Lightning said, following his crew chief. "Go ahead and warm up," Doc said once the two cars reached Willy's Butte. Lightning got onto the track and started going around at fifty. After a couple laps, Lightning took it up to seventy, and after seventy to one hundred miles per hour. "Good work," Doc said. "We're going to try and get up to two hundred today for at least two hundred laps." "Am I ready for that?" Lightning asked nervously. "Yeah," Doc said. "You shouldn't have a problem with it." "You're the doc, Doc" Lightning said. He was still slightly nervous, but he got on the track and took off anyway. "You do realize this is going to take forever, right?" Lightning said into his intercom system. "It won't be too bad," Doc said as Lightning power slid through his first turn. "Good work, Kiddo." "Thanks" Lightning said, continuing to tear up the track.
An hour and a half later: Lightning finished his two hundredth lap. "Great work, Rookie," Doc said as Lightning drove up to him. "Thanks," Lightning said, a little out of breath. "Take a couple of cool downs laps, then go sit on some ice" Doc instructed. "How does your axle feel?" "It's throbbing a little" Lightning admitted, "But then again I just drove two hundred miles at two hundred miles per hour." "That is true," Doc said. "Go get something to eat and then sit on ice for an hour. After you're done icing, I want to x-ray your axle to make sure you're not tearing it up too bad." "Food, ice, x-rays, got it." Lightning said "Good," Doc said. "Oh, and the Piston Cup circuit managers called me. Your spot has already been filled by an alternate, but I managed to get you the provisional position." Lightning nodded. "That means I have to start from the back?" "Yeah," Doc said. "But you're good enough, where you start the race won't matter." "I hope so" Lightning said. "And after that, it's on to the wedding. Sally has arranged a private jet for us so we can fly directly to L.A." "I heard instead of really helping Sally yesterday, you fell asleep and took a four hour nap." Doc said "I was tired!" Lightning said indignantly. Doc laughed. "Okay, Kid," he said. "Go get something to eat." "Thanks, Doc." "No problem, Kiddo," Doc said. "I'll see you a little later." "Sounds good" Lightning replied.
Lightning drove up the bank, onto the main road, and to Flo's café where he ordered two cans of electrolyte oil. "Hey" Sally said, driving up as Lightning finished his first can. "Hey," Lightning replied, pulling his second can towards him. "How did your training go this morning?" Sally asked. "Really well" Lightning replied. "I did two hundred laps at two hundred miles per hour." "That's great!" Sally said "And to think less than a week ago you said you were quitting." "I know" Lightning said, swallowing a mouthful of oil. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Sally asked. "I'm going to take a nap while sitting on ice after I finish my oil and after that I have to get my axle x-rayed. After that I don't have any plans," Lightning said. "Okay," Sally said. "I might need help sorting some RSVPs a little later." "I can do that," Lightning said. "If you want, I can do that while I ice my axle." "No, go ahead and take a nap" Sally said. "You've been working really hard lately. You need to get some sleep." "That is very true," Lightning said, finishing his second can.