When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 13- Collision of Worlds

"That was..." Fudge began. She trailed off. There was no way she'd ever be able to describe how she felt about what had just happened. She was pretty shaken up not just by the chase, but what was happening now; she had no idea what was going on. Was this some weird foreign style of kidnapping or something?

They had just gotten on board the plane and were settling into the cabin. As she scrambled out of Mater's truck bed with her backpack (she was worried that she'd lost it during the ordeal, but it was safely in the truck bed beside her), Fudge tried to control her breathing and slow it down a little bit. It helped when she got into a seat. It had originally been one for cars, but Finn had transformed it into one for humans! The girl had to do a double take before she sat down.

"Are you all right?" Finn asked her.

She nodded, starting to breathe a little more normally. "Yeah. I think I'm okay... Just wasn't expecting something like that, that's all."

"I'm assuming you're new to the field too?" the magenta sports car questioned, looking her up and down.

"Sort of..." Fudge replied, but Finn interrupted before she could clarify.

"Now, that's how I like to start a day", Finn declared. "You never feel more alive than when you're almost dead."

"Yeah..." Fudge agreed. As shaken up as she was, she had to admit that she did feel alive. She tossed her backpack on the floor beside her. "So, where are we going now?"

Finn didn't answer.

"Yeah", the sports car echoed, only she didn't sound so sure.

"Who were those guys anyway?" Fudge wanted to know.

Finn gave her an odd look. "They're the ones who are behind all this."

"Behind all what?"

"Well, I hope that device didn't fall off", the sports car commented before Finn could say anything else (though he did give Fudge another odd look). She pressed a button to spin Mater's chair around and she retrieved something off of his undercarriage.

"Hey! These seats can move!" Fudge exclaimed. "That is so cool! How do I do that?!" She hit a button on her chair and slid uncontrollably to the left. "Never mind. I got it!" She moved back to the right. "Whoa! Whoa! This is awesome!"

"Still in one piece!" the sports car announced, holding up the small item. "Great."

"I gotta go to a doctor", Mater remarked as the sports car moved away to put the device into a computer. "I keep gettin' these sharp pains in my undercarriage!"

"Are you okay?" Fudge questioned, concerned.

He nodded. "Yeah. Just hurts a little."

"Downloading the photo now", the sports car reported.

"Hey! Let me introduce you two!" Mater spoke up. "This here is Finn McSomethin'-Or-Other. He's a first-class VIP airport whatchamacallit. And Finn, Fudge, this here is my date." He looked to the sports car. So did everyone else. Finn looked amused. The sports car herself appeared to be confused. Fudge was both. (It seemed that these two already knew each other.) "I never did get yer name", Mater added.

"Oh, yes, sorry", she apologised politely. "It's Shiftwell. Holley Shiftwell."

"It's Shiftwell", Mater repeated. "Holley-"

He was interrupted by a device appearing over the roof to make the cabin dark.

"What's going on?" Fudge wondered.