Driven to Win

Chapter 18- Life's a Beach

Chapter 18- Life's a Beach

"Are you sure about this?" Fudge wondered as she, Lightning, Luigi and Guido made their way down to Fireball Beach the following morning. She'd tried to get herself pumped up, reminding herself that this was going to be fun and Lightning could do this, but she couldn't hide her doubts.

Lightning nodded. "Absolutely!" He paused and added, "Why? You're not?"

"Well, I've got mixed feelings about this, to be honest", she voiced her opinion. "I mean, I'm sure you can do this, but there's always the possibility that you won't. I guess I'm just a little bit worried about that. I mean, do you really wanna sell mud flaps?"

"Not really", he admitted. "But this was the only way to get Mr. Sterling to let me do this. I just had to take it." While Fudge thought about that, he added, smiling, "Come on! You and I've had a lot of adventures together. This'll just be another one. I can do this. We got this!"

Fudge smiled. "Yeah! Let's go!"

The weather was gorgeous and perfect for racing. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was windy enough to cool the otherwise warm air, but it wasn't cold. The waves coming from the ocean looked beautiful too, all shimmering. Fudge smiled as she took off her rainbow flip-flops. Since Sterling wasn't around, she could wear whatever she wanted and that was a white fedora, denim jacket, denim shorts, her star necklace and a greyish-blue T-shirt. She felt comfortable in that; not too hot, not too cold. Plus, with nobody from the training centre around, she didn't feel self-conscious about wearing shorts, showing off her scars. Lightning, Luigi and Guido had all seen her scars millions of times, so she didn't mind them seeing.

"All right! Let's do this!" Lightning cried, eager to get the show on the road.

"Yeah!" Fudge cheered, readily armed with a notebook and pen to record his speeds.

"I'll track and record your speeds", she'd promised him that morning, "but other than that, I'll let you do your own thing. I'll be there as your sister, not your crew chief."

However, before they could start, they got a surprise. A familiar voice called out, "You talked him into it! Way to go, Mr. McQueen!"

Lightning sighed when he saw who it was. "Cruz." Though he only said her name, his tone said it all.

"Cruz!" Fudge cheered, running up the beach as fast as she could to greet the yellow car, who was lugging a massive trailer behind her. She'd left before Cruz woke up and, therefore, hadn't known she was coming.

"Hey, Fudge!" Cruz greeted her. "I'm so glad you talked to Mr. Sterling, Mr. McQueen! How did you do that?! You could talk a snowmobile into an air conditioner!"

"You're going with me?" Lightning sounded far from thrilled. "With that thing?!"

"Yeah!" she confirmed. "You still need my help! You're brittle! Like a fossil!"

She started opening up the trailer, which was revealed to be a treadmill. Fudge, who had just been returning to the three guys, stopped halfway and turned around to watch the treadmill boot up.

"I don't need a trainer out here, Cruz!" Lightning protested.

"You're old!" she countered. "What if you fall on this beach and can't get up?"

Fudge giggled at the mental image.

"Well, life's a beach!" Lightning shot back. "And then you drive!"

There was a pause before Guido and Luigi started laughing.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Fudge cried out slowly, grinning, pointing at the stock car.