169Ka-chow! I got a brand new story for you all! *Fanfare* As it says in the summary, this is Fudge in Cars 3! Yay!
I was going to wait until I finished Ride, but I just couldn't. I wrote Ride to help you understand a couple of things in this one. One of those things is the accident Fudge has, which I feel like you've got the basic idea of now. And the other one doesn't show up for a while in here, so I figured I might as well post it. There shouldn't be too many spoilers, but there will be a couple (although I don't feel Fudge being okay after the accident is one of them because I made it very clear from the start that she would eventually be okay), so if you wanna hold off till Ride's complete, I totally understand.
However, if you don't mind the spoilers (or you're reading this in the future, when I've finished posting Ride) and you intend to stick around, then I hope you're as excited about this fic as I am! :)
Enjoy, guys!
Driven to Win
Chapter 1- Piston Cup Life
"Okay", a voice whispered into the darkness, taking deep breaths in order to clear their mind. "Here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed." The speaker imagined other race cars whipping around the racetrack at lightning speed. "One winner. Forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast." This was followed by more visualisation of fast race cars.
"Uh, Fudge?" a new voice piped up. "What are you doing?"
Fifteen-year-old Fudge Rossi-Topolino nearly jumped out of her skin and opened her eyes in a flash. She felt her face burn when she saw that her surrogate older brother, champion race car Lightning McQueen was parked in front of her in the Team 95 trailer. He was grinning from headlight to headlight and was struggling not to laugh.
"Lightning!" she exclaimed, giggling. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough!" he replied, suppressing a laugh. "What were you doing?"
"I was just... seeing what it was like to be a Piston Cup racer", Fudge explained. She grinned at him and added, "It's fun!"
Lightning laughed. "Well, you know what they say", he informed her with a shrug. "Imitation is the best form of flattery." He paused and added, "Shouldn't you be in the pits, though?"
"Yeah, I'll go now." Fudge stood up and grabbed her Rust-Eze racing jacket. The jacket was the exact same shade of red as Lightning's paint job with the Rust-Eze logo on the front; yellow lightning bolts running down the sleeves; a black and white checkered pattern on the shoulders to represent the checkered flag and her name and the number 95 graced the back. She wore the jacket with a red T-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt and the number 95 on the front; the necklace in the shape of a silver star that Lightning had given her on her thirteenth birthday (even though Fudge didn't particularly like jewellery, she made an exception for that necklace because it had meaning behind it); red shorts; red and yellow striped socks that came up to her knees and high-tops that look like Lightning McQueen. Finally, her headset and a red glitter top hat completed the look. This was what she wore to every single race, kind of like a uniform.
"All right. I'll see you in a couple minutes."
"Are you gonna get psyched up for the race?" Fudge teased.
Lightning chuckled. "Something like that."
"Do you need to listen to my Get Psyched Mix?" Fudge had a playlist of upbeat, motivational songs, which she called the Get Psyched Mix.
"Thanks, Fudge-O, but I don't think you and I have the same taste in music."
"I have all types of music, so there's gotta be something you'd like." Fudge shrugged. "All right. It's your call. Just let me know if you change your mind."
He nodded with a smile on his face. "I will. Thanks, Fudge."
"See ya!" Fudge called.
"Yeah, see ya!"
With that, Fudge walked out of the trailer, leaving Lightning to mentally prepare for the race ahead.
"Just call him out in a couple of minutes", Fudge instructed Lightning's driver, Mack, on her way past. "The race is gonna start soon."
Mack smiled. "Sure thing, Fudge."
"Thanks!" Fudge ran as fast as she could to the pits, which wasn't fast, by the way. She used to run pretty fast, but not since the accident (but more about that later).
"Hey, guys!" Fudge greeted the rest of the team, which consisted of Fudge's adoptive fathers, Luigi and Guido, who were in charge of tyres; Sarge and Fillmore, who were like Fudge's uncles and in charge of fuel. Sally, Lightning's girlfriend and Mater, Lightning's best friend, were in charge of moral support (Fudge, Sally and Mater were his biggest fans!), as were Flo and Ramone, who were also like Fudge's aunt and uncle and had decided to come to this race. Not everyone from Radiator Springs came to every single race.
So, what was Fudge's job in the team? Well, she had one of the most important jobs of all. She was the crew chief and had been for a couple of years now. Her previous job from the age of six to thirteen was the Team McQueen cheerleader and she got her promotion at thirteen. She was a little worried when she'd been given the job because she knew that Lightning had trusted his previous crew chief, the late great Fabulous Hudson Hornet AKA Doc Hudson, with his life. She just wanted to live up to his legacy, but doubted that she was. However, Lightning insisted that she was doing a fine job and he wasn't going to fire her like he did his first three crew chiefs back when he insisted on working alone when he was an inexperienced, self-centred and, let's face it, kind of stupid rookie.
"Hello, Fudge!" Luigi greeted her warmly.
"Is Stickers nearly ready?" Sally wanted to know.
"He's just getting himself psyched up for the race", the human girl reported with a smile.
Sarge looked around. "Where's Mater?"
Right at that moment, they heard a familiar voice shout out from the direction of the trailers, "Hey, everybody, listen up! My best friend, Lightning McQueen, needs quiet! PERFECT QUIET!" Several loud honks of a horn followed.
Fudge, Luigi, Guido, Sally, Sarge, Fillmore, Flo and Ramone all looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"I think that answers that question!" Sally proclaimed.
"I guess so!" Fudge agreed with a laugh, pulling on her headset and climbing up onto the crew chief stand.
"Hey, guys!" Lightning called out, joining his pit crew in the pits.
"Hi!" they all returned the greeting.
"You ready?" Sally added.
"Absolutely!" Lightning confirmed determinedly.
"Good!" Fudge proclaimed with a teasing smile. "Because if you weren't ready, I'd send you back to the trailer to listen to the Get Psyched Mix to get your mind right."
"No, no!" he assured her. "I'm ready!"
"If you say so..."
"You better get out there", Sally informed her boyfriend.
"Yeah!" Lightning agreed, revving his engine and leaving the pits with the other racers. He flashed them his lucky sticker. "Ka-chow!"
"Let's go, team!" Fudge hollered, prompting everyone to rush around in order to ready themselves for the race.
"Wish me luck!" Lightning called behind him.
"You don't need it!" Sally informed him.
"Good luck!" Mater and Fudge shouted in unison.
The race was a very typical one, but that didn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. Lightning was one of, if not, the greatest race car out there. He had won the prestigious Piston Cup a whopping seven times! The only other racer in history to accomplish such an incredible feat was Strip "The King" Weathers. So, Lightning didn't have any trouble overtaking the other racers.
"Nice job!" Fudge declared. Even though Lightning didn't really need any help at this point, she felt she needed to talk every now and then to let him know that she was still there. "You keep this up and you got a good shot at the checkered flag."
"Thanks, Fudge!" Lightning responded through the radio, gunning forward.
"Whoo-hoo!" Sally cheered. "Come on, Stickers!" Stickers was her nickname for Lightning. When they first met, he didn't have real headlights. Instead, his headlights were- you guessed it!- stickers. Even though he had gotten real headlights long ago, the nickname kind of stuck, but Lightning didn't mind one bit. He liked being called Stickers, but only by Sally; that was her special nickname for him.
"Pardon me!" came Mater's voice from behind the rest of the team. "Best friend comin' through!" He emerged wearing a yellow lightning bolt hat, which looked almost as big as Fudge! In fact, it knocked her hat clean off her head and knocked her headset out of place. "Go, McQueen! Whoo-hoo!"
Fudge gave Mater a look of mock annoyance as she readjusted her headset, took her hat from Guido, who was handing it back up to her, whispered a thank you and replaced it on her head. Still, she had to smile. Mater was known to sport crazy hats at Lightning's races. Not only were they crazy, but they were big too. As far as Fudge was concerned, dressing up in goofy outfits was half the fun. After all, although she was the only human crew chief and therefore, she had nothing to compare it with, she knew that her usual race day attire was hardly conventional. It was what she wore as the cheerleader.
"Hey, Cal!" Lightning called to one of his closest friends in the competition, Cal Weathers, number 42 for Dinoco, as he sailed past. "Your blinker's on!"
"What?" Cal called back. "No it's not..." He stopped, realising that it had been a trick all along! "Hey! Your... blinker's on!"
This was a standard Cal Weathers reply to jokes. It was the number 19 racer for Octane Gain, who was named Bobby Swift and another good friend of Lightning's, who delivered the line that someone would always use whenever Cal recycled someone's retort back at them. "Good comeback, Cal!"
Fudge couldn't help laughing. This was what she loved about her work life. It most certainly wasn't boring. The races were always fun and the banter between Lightning, Bobby and Cal often left her in stitches.
The race went on. At one point, Fudge decided she was hungry and sent Mater to get her a hot dog.
"Okay, I want you to pit now", Fudge informed Lightning, her mouth full of hot dog.
"All right, Chief Fudge!" he laughed, coming into the pits. Bobby and Cal followed him.
"Get ready, guys", Fudge instructed the team as she swallowed.
"Heading into the pits goes Lightning McQueen, Bobby Swift and Cal Weathers!" the announcer, Bob Cutlass observed. "These three are fun to watch, aren't they, Darrell?"
"You know, Bob", the other announcer, Darrell Cartrip, agreed with a laugh, "I can't tell if they have more fun on or off the track!"
There probably wasn't a single person who knew that either. Not even Lightning, Bobby and Cal themselves.
Meanwhile, Fudge supervised the rest of team.
"Come on, guys!" she cheered them on. "Let's get him back out there!"
Luckily, Guido was the fastest tyre changer in the entire circuit and probably even the world. Lightning was out of there in no time.
"Finito!" Guido cried upon completion of changing the tyres. "Via, via, via!"
"Getting a car wash too, Cal?" Lightning retorted as he went past the Dinoco pits.
"No!" Cal shouted defensively. "You're getting a car wash, McQueen!"
"Good comeback, Cal!" Cal's uncle and crew chief, The King, delivered that famous line.
So, that was how things went for the next few laps. Joke, joke, joke. Overtake, overtake, overtake. The cars from Radiator Springs were overjoyed that Lightning won the race; not that Bobby and Cal were disappointed. After all, they still got their fun...
After the race, Fudge and Lightning were being interviewed by Shannon Spokes, the RSN (Racing Sports Network) trackside reporter.
"Lightning", she began, "how do you keep your focus racing against Bobby and Cal?"
"I mean, I think the key is we respect each other", he responded casually. "These guys are real class acts."
Fudge nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. I mean, we all like to have our fun, but when it comes down to it, we're all passionate and serious about-"
She broke off with a loud squeal. Both she and Lightning had been assaulted with a fire extinguisher. Well, it had really been aiming for Lightning, but Fudge was unfortunate enough to be in the splash zone. Then, as if it wasn't bad enough, the two were then showered with confetti!
"Hey!" Fudge shrieked, wiping the foam off her glasses, but she was laughing.
"Congratulations, cupcake!" one Bobby Swift taunted as he raced past with Cal and a couple of pitties.
Bobby, Cal and their teams had struck again! It was a tradition for the trio to prank each other after each race, with the winner being at the butt end of said prank! Their pranks had gotten pretty crazy and elaborate over the years. Everything from whoopee cushions to water balloons to a hundred Lightning McQueen plushies to rubber tyres had been used at some point or another. In fact, Fudge could even recall an incident which involved all four of those things! Don't ask.
Lightning spat some foam from the fire extinguisher out of his mouth, trying to rid himself of the taste. "Oh, they're gonna pay!" he vowed determinedly.
"Yeah!" Fudge agreed, sputtering a little herself. "They got me too! We gotta come up with something good!"
"Is that it?" Lightning questioned, moving around to try and look at his whole body. "Did you get it all?"
Guido nodded. "Si." He had been washing the foam and confetti off of both Lightning and Fudge. Mack had denied them entrance to the trailer until they were cleaned up, despite Lightning's protests that it was his trailer.
"Well, let's go!" Fudge cheered, racing into the trailer and collapsing onto the bed that had been set up for her in there.
"You all right, Fudge?" Lightning wanted to know, concerned. It had only been recently that the fifteen-year-old stopped taking naps during the day as a result of tiredness from the medication she received after the accident. Not only that, but several months earlier, on her fifteenth birthday, she was hospitalised for nearly three weeks after an accidental overdose on her medication made her very ill (going from being in a lot of pain to very ill wasn't much fun!). So, she was still pretty much exhausted by the time she made it to bed every night.
Fudge nodded. "Yeah. Just a little tired."
"Well, I think we've all had a big day." Lightning came over and stroked her hair. "You should probably get some rest."
"Yeah..." Fudge yawned loudly and lay back in the bed. "Then you know what we should do first thing in the morning?"
"What?" Sally questioned.
"Plan revenge on Bobby and Cal!"
"Yeah, you got a personal vendetta against them now too!" Lightning laughed. "Though, we may not get the chance to prank them for a while. You know, 'cause I win all the races!"
Sarge rolled his eyes. "So modest!"
"You know they can't hear you!" Sally reminded him with a laugh.
Lightning rolled his eyes, still grinning.
As it was, they got their chance for revenge at the following race at the Rocker Arms International Speedway. It had been a very close race, but in the end, it was Cal who claimed the victory. Celebrations were in full swing for Team Dinoco.
"Go, go, Dinoco!" the pitties cheered, tossing Cal into the air.
"Yay!" Fudge grinned devilishly. "We get to prank Cal today! We never get to prank Cal!"
The others laughed, knowing exactly why they never got to prank Cal.
"Great win today, Cal!" Shannon Spokes congratulated their unsuspecting victim.
"Thank you, Shannon", he replied modestly. "It was a great boost and I was- Hey! Hey!" he exclaimed, realising that his tyres were inflating rapidly.
Everyone laughed and that was when Cal caught sight of the culprit.
"Guido!"
"Peet stop!" Guido twirled his tool triumphantly.
"Ha, ha!" Cal's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he attempted to chase Lightning and Bobby without much luck. "Laugh it up! Real funny!" Unfortunately for Cal, his appearance was then made even more ridiculous by a bunch of Lightning McQueen balloons and the deflation of his front left tyre!
"Wow!" Fudge cried, laughing. "I think the big tyres made you even faster!"
This prompted even more laughter from the group.
Cal groaned. "Come on, guys! How am I supposed to fit in my trailer like this?!"
"We all ready to go?" Lightning wanted to confirm later that evening as the crew assembled in front of the trailer.
"I think so." Fudge nodded. She looked at her fathers. "We got the tyres, right?"
"Yes", Luigi replied.
"Sarge? Fillmore? You loaded the fuel?"
"Sure did, man", Fillmore confirmed as Sarge answered with, "Affirmative."
"And everyone's here?" The human girl looked around to see if anybody was missing.
"Looks like it." Lightning looked around too.
"Do I need to do a roll call?" Fudge joked.
"I don't think that's necessary", Lightning assured her with a smile. "I think we're all here."
"Then I guess we are ready to go." Fudge felt a little weird taking charge like this, especially with her own family. After all, she was so used to being told what to do. However, if she wanted to be a good crew chief- and she did- then it was something that she was going to have to get used to.
Just as they were filing into the trailer, they heard the sound of metal clanging against other metal and a shout of, "Ow!"
Most of the Radiator Springs race team tried to suppress their laughter while looking at Lightning as if to say, "Care to explain?"
"You didn't reduce Cal's tyres back to normal size?" Sarge guessed.
The stock car laughed. "No!"
"And now, he's trying to get into his trailer?" Sally assumed.
"Yeah!"
"You are so mean!" Fudge accused, giggling, swatting Lightning in the door.
"Yeah", he admitted, "but it's funny! Besides", he went on, "I didn't think you'd mind after they got you with the fire extinguisher too."
"Eh." Fudge shrugged. "I don't care what happens to Cal that much."
Everyone laughed.
Of course, for Fudge and the rest of the gang, the fun wasn't reserved for race day. Lightning would often train in town by racing down by Willy's Butte in Radiator Springs and the others would often watch him. He was set up with Sheriff's radar displaying his speed and Fudge recording it in a notebook. She'd record the date, lap and speed, so it was a good thing that Lightning had no trouble reading her terrible handwriting.
On this particular day, it was her, Mater, Luigi, Guido and Sheriff, who were watching him race. Mater was wearing a ridiculously huge red and yellow wig, Guido and Luigi were dressed up as 95 fans again and Fudge was in her typical race day attire, aside from the headset. She had a notebook and pen in hand.
"Here he comes, Fudge!" Luigi pointed out, even though she could see for herself.
"I'm ready!" she assured him.
Fudge glanced at the radar to check the speed. One-ninety-six. Not bad at all. She jotted down the number in her notebook.
Guido cheered in Italian.
"Keep it goin', buddy!" Mater yelled.
Fudge used to have a lot more fun watching Lightning race. He used to take her with him when he raced laps and not just by Willy's Butte, but on tracks where he raced. The human girl enjoyed that immensely.
So, why didn't they do it anymore? Well, now would be a good time to explain Fudge's accident. When she was twelve, Fudge had been out racing with Lightning when she fell off his roof and was run over. Needless to say, she was hurt quite badly with things like broken bones and serious head injuries and had almost died. Now, she was left with several long term conditions, including:
Scars- a huge one running down her back and across her legs and knees where she'd had rods and screws put into her broken legs. They were still there to that day.
Missing teeth that had been knocked out as a result; six teeth, including her top two front teeth were gone.
Damaged eyesight, which meant that she had to start wearing glasses.
Although she surprised everyone by learning to walk again, she still limped a little and couldn't run too much without the risk of damaging her formerly-punctured lung and dodgy knees.
Frequent exhaustion. The medication had made her sleep a lot and she still got tired.
It may seem like a lot, but considering how bad things had been for her, it was impressive that that was all. It was also impressive how well Fudge came through all of that, even learning how to walk again. Plus, the girl knew that she had been given a second chance at life and did not intend to waste it. In fact, she would even love to be taken for a fast lap, if she was given the chance. However, after what happened that fateful night, Lightning refused to take her again.
"Come on!" Fudge would whine every time she was told no. "We've been out racing, like, a million times and that only happened once!"
"Fudge, once was more than enough!" Lightning would insist. "Look, if something like that ever happened to you- or anyone else I care about- again, I'd hate myself even more than I already do! That was really hard for me and you saw how mad Luigi got at me." Then he would stroke her hair and add, whispering gently, "I know you don't remember the accident, but I'll never forget it."
She did. It was no secret that Luigi had been absolutely furious at Lightning. It had taken him months to calm down and apologise, admitting that he had just been very upset about Fudge's accident and felt like he needed someone to blame. The teenager could understand why Lightning refused to take her racing again too. She didn't know the whole story about how her accident had affected him (McQueen suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after that, even refusing to return to the track where it happened, but he never spoke to Fudge about that, in fear of worrying or upsetting her), but she knew that he felt guilty about what happened. She wished that he would stop feeling so guilty. Even though, like Lightning said, she didn't remember the accident, she'd been told what had happened enough times to know the story and didn't blame him for what happened.
"Yeah, I guess you're right", she would have to admit, as much as she wanted to go out racing again.
Lightning would nod. "Thank you. I'm glad you understand." He would sigh and add, "You know I love you, right?"
"I love you too, Lightning."
Then he would smile, give her a hug and a kiss before either leaving or changing the subject.
Fudge tried not to get too upset, though. After all, she couldn't really complain about where she was now. Even though a regular crew chief wasn't the teen's first choice in a job, it was almost as good. Not only that, but she had a loving family, which had grown in recent years (although she still got upset about not knowing either of her biological parents, it didn't bother the girl so much anymore with all of the other incredible stuff going on in her life); excellent friends and so many exciting opportunities and adventures. It wasn't a bad life. It wasn't a bad life at all.
Even so, if given the chance to go out racing again, as unlikely as it seemed, she would probably jump at said chance. Though, little did Fudge know, the chance would come up a hell of a lot sooner than she ever would've imagined...
How was that for a first chapter? Good, I hope. Please review. Reviews are what motivate me to keep posting, so if you want to see more from me, then you know what to do!
Like with Ride, I've completely finished writing this one. It has thirty-eight chapters, so it's my longest story in terms of chapters, but not words. So, updates may be relatively frequent.
That's right! A bit of a spoiler here. Fudge does become the crew chief. I hope you liked that. I also got the inspiration for the Get Psyched Mix from another Owen Wilson movie! XD
Oh, and you may have noticed that since Fudge wears glasses now, I included an updated look for her to the front cover of this story as opposed to the one on the front covers of Cars Origins: The Sweet Life of Fudge, Our Town: Tales from Radiator Springs and Ride. I tried to include the missing teeth and scars I mentioned too, but my editing skills suck, so it looked weird and kind of creepy. XD I'll also post it to my two Tumblr accounts (fabulous-cars-crazy-fudge and fudge-rossi-topolino), so you can get a better look at it.
I guess that's it besides I don't own Cars. I do own Fudge and several other characters, who will make appearances in this fic. Mostly, humans, a couple of cars and an animal... Once again, I hope you enjoyed and please review!
