The crew was in the country for a food and hot air ballon festival. Tito was making is signature tacos in his truck as the FAST crew was enjoying the fresh air outside.
"Ah, it's good to be out of the big city. Now and then." Turbo was pretty happy being there.
Whiplash didn't seem to agree. "What's so good about it? We drove six hours into the middle of nowhere for a food festival."
Ghost shook her head at his attitude. "Come on, babe. It's the Napa Valley Floating Food Festival."
"Am I supposed to be impressed? No racing, no stunts, the craziest thing they do up here is stomp grapes." He was still trying to deny it and Ghost could see something wrong.
White-Shadow was excited though. "Oh! That sounds awesome! I wanna stomp some grapes!"
Ghost chuckled at the large snail's excitement, but Whip wasn't letting up at all. "Trust me, it gets old real fast."
Burn raised a brow at this. "How would you know?"
"Um, I mhm." He was hesitating but then someone seemed to recognize him, and that made Ghost suspicious.
"Chubby Snail! Aw! Is it?! It is!" The old cricket jumped over to Whiplash and started to talk with him as if he knew the dark purple snail. "It's Chubby Snail! All grown up!"
Ghost giggled as the elder pinched Whiplash's cheeks.
Whip pulled away from the cricket. "I don't know who you think you're talking too, old timer. I ain't your friend, and I ain't chubby." He then activated his jet and zoomed away.
Burn looked to Ghost, and the goth snail smirked. "He's not wrong about the not being chubby part."
The crew then zoomed after Whiplash and caught up with him. "That was weird."
Ghost and Turbo were on both sides of Whip as they raced around. "Yeah, babe, are you hiding something?"
"Uh, yeah, uh. Hey! How about a race around the valley!" He changed the subject and the rest of the crew agreed to the race.
Turbo and Ghost shared a look, they knew Whiplash enough to know he was both hiding something and not acting like his usual tough self. He usually told Ghost everything, so she knew he wasn't being himself.
"Yeah, it'll be a great way to explore this area, that I've definitely never been to before." Okay, this was getting more suspicious by the minute.
The crew raced down the road and eventually made it to a park. Skidmark stopped after seeing something on a sign. "Hey, Chubby Snail!"
Whip stopped and got in Skid's face. "That's not my name!"
"No, the sign." The crew came back over and on the sign was a tiny, purple snail getting his cheek pinched.
"So, that's Chubby Snail." Turbo realized.
Burn though pointed something out. "It does kinda look like Whiplash."
Whiplash glared at the red snail. "Just saying." He glared harder. "Just a little bit." Harsher glare. "I'll be quiet."
Ghost tilted her head. "Aw, so cute."
Shadow agreed. "Aw! They're pinching his cheek." The large snail tried to pinch Whiplash's cheek, but the leader leaned away.
"You best back off if you wanna keep those eyes." With that White Shadow left him alone.
Turbo then had an idea. "Hey, maybe we should check it out. Maybe sample these famous grapes."
The rest of the team agreed, except Whiplash. "Hey! I thought we were racing here! Don't make me raise my voice!"
Shadow then grew concerned as Ghost rolled her eyes. "Oh no, he's gonna raise his voice."
"You bet I am! Now get moving! That way!" The crew except Ghost listened to him. The goth snail was the only one not afraid of him when he raises his voice. Heck, she could be louder if she wanted to be.
"Whip, babe, is everything okay? You're not acting like yourself." Ghost slid closer to him as he looked at the sign.
Whiplash sighed. "I'm fine, sugar. Just bored and nutty."
She didn't believe him but nodded either way. "Okay, if, you're sure. Let's catch up with the others before they do something stupid and/or slap worthy."
The two then raced off after the rest of the crew.
The next day Ghost decided to explore the festival a bit. The others were working with Tito, and since the goth snail wanted to take in more of the fresh air, she started to slide around to sample some foods.
Ghost was humming to herself as she slid around but bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking!" She helped up an elder snail.
This elder was female, white hair, purple skin, and a pearl necklace. "It's alright, dear."
The female elder's husband came over. "Are you alright, honey?"
"I'm just fine, Lester. This lovely, young lady helped me up." Ghost smiled nervously as she used one of her eyestalks to rub the back of her head.
"It's no trouble, ma'am. I'm still sorry about bumping into you though." The elder smiled sweetly at the white female. "It's no problem, sweetie. What's your name?"
Ghost introduced herself. "I'm Jenny, but my friends call me Ghost. Anyway, I wish I can stay and talk some more, but I have to find my friends."
"It was nice meeting you, Jenny!"
The goth snail found the crew sampling some cheese, but also saw Whip hide in some. Burn, Chet, Whiplash, and Ghost were sampling some chocolate fondue. It was delicious, but Whiplash jumped into the melted chocolate, and when he jumped out, the chocolate hardened.
After getting Whip out of the chocolate, Ghost, Turbo, and Whip were eating some grapes.
But when Whip took a bite, one of the elder snails Ghost met earlier was there. "Whitney!"
Whiplash spat out the grape onto Turbo.
"Lidia convinced me to come see you, Whitney." Turbo got the grape off his face and stood with Ghost as he questioned Whip.
"Whiplash, why does everyone here know you? And did he just call you Whitney?"
Ghost took a closer look between the elder and her boyfriend, the two had many similarities. From facial structure to skin color, the two looked to be related to each other.
It was when Whiplash dragged the elder away that Ghost snapped out of it and look to her younger brother. "Following him?"
"Following him."
The two went to find Whiplash, the two separating to cover more ground. Ghost found the two elders sitting on a hot air balloon and went up to them. "Hello again. Um, I don't mean to be rude or pushy, but how do you know Whiplash?"
The elder female answered first. "Well, we're Whitney's parents."
"His parents? Oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet you both." Ghost was happy to officially meet Whip's family, even if he tried to hide them.
"And you, sweetie. But, um, are we supposed to be this high off the ground?!" It was then that Ghost looked down to see them floating upwards.
"Nope, we should probably panic." The two elders started to scream, and Ghost tried to help them stay calm.
"Easy, knowing my friends and Whiplash. They're on the way."
As predicted, the crew arrived in their own tiny hot air balloon. And the two elders, well the elder female, was happy to see him. "Whitney! Oh, Lester, look! Whitney's come to save us!"
Whiplash jumped off the small balloon and next to Ghost. "Don't worry! Everything's gonna be okay!"
Turbo jumped off the balloon and next to Whip's parents. "Seriously! Why do these crazy snails keep calling you Whitney?!"
"Don't call my boyfriend's mother crazy!" Ghost shouted at her brother.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-wait what?!" Turbo was confused as he looked at Ghost and Whiplash.
Whip introduced them. "Mom, Dad, this Turbo and my girlfriend, Ghost. Ghost, Turbo, these are my parents!"
"So, hang on. Your real name is-." Ghost glared at her brother. "Not the time, Theo! We gotta get down!"
Skid yelled to the five. "I don't think we can carry everyone down on this thing!"
Turbo then looked to the other balloons. "Look! All the other balloons are launching!"
Ghost and Whiplash looked down and then calculated what they had to do. "You thinking what I'm thinking, babe?"
"I think so, sugar." Whip looked to his dad. "You wanna see what I do for a living?"
Lester turned away. "Not up close, I don't."
Lidia leaned over to her husband. "Oh, Lester, don't be such a baby."
Whiplash looked to Turbo as he laid out the plan. "Turbo, you take mom, I'll take dad. Ghost stick with us."
"You got it." Whiplash's parents got onto Turbo and himself before they got ready to jump onto the balloons. "Everyone, hang on!"
Ghost, Whip, and Turbo then jumped off the balloon and bounced on and off a cheeseburger balloon and onto a turkey balloon.
Whip's dad was screaming as they landed. "Save your breath, Dad! It's about to get crazy!"
Both Ghost and Whiplash activated their racing shells. "What was it before?!"
Ghost looked to her little brother. "Turbo, follow Whip's lead!"
"You got it!"
They jumped off the turkey and bounced from balloon to balloon. Whip's parents were screaming, his mom in fun and his dad in fear as they kept going. Well, until they were plain falling.
"Uh, Whip! Ghost! Now we're just plain falling!" Turbo was concerned as they neared the ground.
"Don't worry! This is wine country!" Whiplash didn't seem too bothered as they continued to fall.
"What does that mean?!"
They all landed in a bucket of stomped grapes. They were covered with the purple juice but were just fine.
"We're safe? We're safe!" Lidia was so happy they were on the ground again.
Lester wasn't so happy. "Thank you, son. But this is better than being a winery mascot how?!"
They all got out of the bucket and cleaned off. Whiplash and Ghost were talking to his parents afterwards. "Sorry we put you through all those stunts. I know it's not your thing."
"I don't get stunt racing, son. But if you like it, then it can't be all bad. Maybe just a little crazy." It was good to see the father and son make up.
"Aw, that means a lot, Dad." Whip was really happy.
"And always know, Whitney, that we're behind you one hundred percent. But if you did wanna come home and give up stunt racing, then we're behind that one hundred percent too."
Whiplash sighed. "Thanks, Mom."
Lidia then looked to Ghost. "Now, you said Whitney's your boyfriend while on the balloon. Is it true?"
Ghost nodded. "It is, ma'am. You two raised a really amazing snail."
Lidia hugged Ghost and cheered happily. "Oh, I'm so glad my Whitney found someone! You take good care of him now, you hear?"
"I promise I will." The two let go and smiled to each other. "It was so great meeting you both."
"So, when's the wedding, and when can we expect grandchildren?" Whip flinched at that and looked to his mother. "Mom!"
"Sorry, I just had to ask."
The four said goodbye and Whiplash and Ghost went back to the crew, who were gathered outside the food truck.
"Say goodbye to the folks?" Turbo smiled at the two.
"Yeah, but we're gonna visit soon." Whiplash and Ghost smiled at the thought of coming back for a visit.
"I should hope so, it wouldn't be Napa Valley without Chubby Snail." Turbo then pinched Whip's cheek. "Hey!"
"Ok, ok, I'll stop. But they might not." The super snail motioned to the rest of the team and smirked at the two.
White Shadow was the first to say something. "His name is Whitney!"
They all started to laugh, and Ghost glared at the crew. "Knock it off and get in the truck before I decide to haunt your nightmares for the next month!"
They all stopped and got in the food truck.
Whiplash sighed in relief and looked to Ghost. "Thanks, sugar."
She kissed his cheek. "Don't mention it, babe."