Hey all,

If you're reading this, I'm assuming you, the reader in question, are a fan of the now long dead cartoon show Team Hot Wheels, and are looking for new content. I myself watched Origin of Awesome on KidsClick as a child (we were poor, and did not have cable), and found it again on Youtube a few years back. When I tell you I couldn't stop watching it... I fell in love with the characters and was SO excited when I found out there were TWO more movies to watch. Then... I actually watched them. Don't get me wrong, Skills to Thrill wasn't terrible, but it was lacking something from the first, that special something that had manged to hook me in the first place. If Build the Epic Race was a person, I would've mugged them in a back alley and stolen all their stuff just to watch it burn to the ground. Needless to say, I didn't like the sequels very much. More than anything, I was upset by the fact that, well, that was IT. There wasn't anymore. When I was watching Larry talk to the Team and the end of OoA, I expected that was a setup for a series. My storyteller's heart longed for these fictional adolescent boys shenanigans in episodic form, with character development, story plots and the like...but it never came. It upset me so much, I found myself trying to continue the story with my own writings. To make a long mess short, it eventually lead to what you are about to read right now, which can be best described as a reboot to the show of sorts. Expect some things to be different, as much as they are the same. Here's to a hopefully good series! I pray in my dearest of prayers you enjoy what you read here, as much as I enjoy writing it.

Sincerely, your Storyspinner,

Ajay.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever tried to repair a truck?

How about a stunt truck?

How about a stunt truck powered by a freaky liquid that makes things unnecessarily dangerous for no reason?

How about doing all of that on a timer?

Yup, just another day at the Garage...for me.

My name is Wheilemena. Wheilemena Mae White. Only don't call me that. EVER. You will lose a limb. My friends call me Wheelie, on account of my rollerblading. Never quite got why that nickname sticks, I'm plenty good at other things. Handymanning, songwriting, geoscience, modeling, street fighting, breaking and entering without being caught, hiding the evidence...normal stuff like that.

...but back to current chaos. Yes, fixing a super powered stunt truck while you're being timed sounds challenging, but you wanna know what makes the whole thing harder? Knowing your cousin, his best friend, and the cute boy from next door are the ones timing you.

I try not to show how much I'm sweating as I screw a tire bigger than my head out of place and quickly shove another one into its spot. I've been counting the seconds in my head as I go along.

"4 minutes and 20 seconds, 4 minutes and 21 seconds...", my brain ticks.

I can't see the timer, but I know my rhythm. I can also see, out of the corner of my eye, the smug look on my cousin's face as the time races on. I bite the inside of my gums and speed up a little. He won't let me live this down if I end up behind my previous record.

"4 minutes and 59 seconds, 5 minutes..."

I'm under the hood now, just checking to make sure I didn't miss anything.

"Shoot!", I hiss.

I did forget something. The Imagicore. I have to polish it. I could skip it to buy myself more time, but doing a job halfway isn't my style.

I quickly grab my rag and reach down, way deep down into the truck, towards what seems like a tiny sun, yellow light shining through all the dirty, dense metal surrounding it. It seems to shine brighter as my hand gets closer.

"5 minutes and 25 seconds..."

I rub as best I can, making sure it's spotless.

"5 minutes and 29 seconds..."

Almost there.

Almost through.

I climb out of the hood and slam it down.

"HA!" I laugh, trying not to sound out of breath. "Done!"

I turn to look at the guys. One, is sitting in the corner, criss-cross, on a stack of tires (how he gets up there I'll never know). He has a big goofy smile on his face as he gives a round of applause. I would be more flattered by his response, but I've seen him give the same reaction to his pet snail for beating his old record of squirming across his terrarium. That's just how Rhett Ruddington is: sweet, supportive, and a little weird.

I hear the click of a stopwatch being stopped.

"Five minutes and 31 seconds. You just beat your old record."

I look to see Brandon Skye, sitting on my rolly-chair backwards, (-because how else would you do it?) looking at the watch in his hand. Was he impressed? I couldn't tell. He's always so reserved, so it was hard to get a read on him sometimes. I caught myself wishing he would look up at me, so instinctively I kicked myself in the shin for letting myself get distracted by completely irrelevant things...

"Eh.", said another voice with snark. "Preeeetty sure you can go faster than that."

My eyes start rolling before I even let them.

Gage Green, my favorite cousin.

-and by favorite I mean completely and totally annoying.

WHY can't he just let me HAVE this one?

"I wasn't trying to be fast, Gage.", I retort, as I turn and roll over to him on my skates (Did I mention I was wearing those the whole time? I'm good, I know.). "I was trying to be efficient, a practice that you choose to ignore for your concerning obsession with speed."

Man just cracks a smile and leans on the wall, hands behind his head, like all the anime protagonists he used to idolize back when he was ten years old.

"Concerning? Speed? Those words belong in the same sentence?", he jokes.

I am not in the mood for his teasing, but luckily Rhett interrupts before Gage can continue. He raises his hand like a kindergartener eagerly trying to answer a question.

"Ooh, OOH, could you fix the Boneshaker next, Wheelie?" he asks gleefully.

That catches me off guard.

"Rhett, didn't fix your car a couple hours ago?" I ask.

He suddenly blushes, which catches me more off guard. The boy looks down and starts twiddling his thumbs as his cheeks somehow get redder than they already are.

"Well yeah..." he continues, "...but she really likes it when you polish her."

Dang it. He's doing the puppy face. I always fall for the puppy face. If I look at him any longer, he'll be able to ask me to jump off a cliff. I have to turn around and pretend to gather my tools to avoid looking at him.

"Sorry Rhett, I have a lot more to do today." I tell him without looking up. "Including letting the owner of this vehicle that I'm done fixing it." I immediately freeze as my own words make me realize something. I currently have no idea where that owner is.

Rule #1: If there's one thing you should never NOT be aware of, it's the whereabouts of Wyatt Leon Dandelion.

"Speaking of him, where is he?", I inquire cautiously, hoping one of the others have at least caught a glimpse of him in the last 15 minutes. Brandon raises his eyebrows, as if he's recalling something. He then scratches his cheek and squints real hard until his eyes are just barely visible.

He's so CUTE when he squints!

Ignore that.

He is a normal amount of cute when he squints. I am very normal about him.

"He said something about picking up something for his little sister... which was odd, because as long as I've known him he's been an only child.", he says.

Dread suddenly seizes me.

Oh...

OH.

OH NO.