The next morning soon came. The sun touched the top of Cadillac Range, and started to light up the valley. The sound of the 'Reveille' music could be heard, but was then drowned by the 'Star Spangle Banner' music again.
"Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?" Sarge demanded.
"Respect the classics, man." Filmore replied.
At Mater's Salvage Yard, the rusty tow truck was fast asleep. He then woke up a grunt. He stretched his wheels out, and groaned in relief. He drove out of his salvage yard, to find a smooth piece of black Tarmac on the ground in front of him. The road was smooth and solid, all nice and clean. The new road lead up to the orange caution flags, and Bessie was parked on the side of the road.
Doc then drove up, as he and Mater looked down the road. "He's done." Mater said slowly. "He must've finished it while we was all sleepin'."
"Good riddance." Doc sighed, then turned around, and drove off back into town, as everyone else drove up, and looked down the road.
"They're gone?" Flo asked in surprise.
"Well, we wouldn't want them to miss that race of theirs." Sarge spoke up.
Sally looked down at the road. She seemed upset about Lightning's departure, and drove away back to the motel. Mary looked the same. She felt like she might even cry. She reversed away from everyone, turned around, and drove off back into town.
Then, Sheriff started to sniff to himself. "Oh, dude. Are you crying?" Ramone asked in a teasing tone.
"No! I'm happy!" Sheriff said, blinking away what tears that might have accumulated. "I don't have to watch him every second of the day anymore! I'm glad he's gone!"
Red started to tear up and cry, then drove away, knocking down the same stack of tyres that were fixed up.
"What's wrong with Red?" McQueen asked, appearing as if from out of nowhere, along with Braedey.
"Oh, he's just sad, 'cause you both left town..." Mater began in monotone. Everyone looked over and they gasped with happiness. "...and went to your big race to win the Piston Cup that you've always dreamed about your whole life..." Lightning smiled at this, as Braedey winked to his partner. Mater still doesn't even know that they were there. "...and get that big ol' sponsor, and that fancy helicopter you was talkin' about." Mater stood there for about 5 seconds, then noticed that McQueen and Braedey were standing there. "Wait a minute!" He jumped with surprise. Everyone laughed at Mater, when he realised that Lightning and Braedey were there. "I knowed you both wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."
"Of course we wouldn't, Mater." Braedey smiled.
"What are you two doin' here? You're gonna miss your race." Sheriff asked the two. "Don't worry." He turned on his siren light, and started to drive down the road. "I'll give you a police escort, and we'll make up the time."
"Thank you, Sheriff." Lightning thanked, as Braedey turned to him.
"But, I'm afraid Lighting and I... can't go just yet." Lightning spoke up.
"Well, why not?" Sheriff asked, turning around.
"I'm not sure Lightning's tyres..." Braedey pointed to McQueen's Lightyears, and Luigi's gasped excitedly. "...can get him all the way to California."
"Peet stop?" Guido asked.
"Yeah, does anybody know what time Luigi's opens?" Lightning asked out loud. Luigi then drove up to Lightning with excitement, along with Guido, who was bouncing on the spot on his three wheels.
"I can't-a believe it!" Luigi exclaimed.
~*~*~
"Four new tyres!"
Everyone was now over by Luigi's tyre shop. Lightning was inside with the two Ferrari lovers, whilst Luigi were feeling ecstatic about having someone buy his tyres for a long time. Braedey was on the oposid e of the shop, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself at Luigi.
"Grazie, Mr. Lightning. Grazie!" Luigi thanked, hugging the racecar the best he could.
Flo smiled. "Would you look at that!"
Sally drove up to the shop to see what was going on, then saw Lightning. The racecar saw the blue Porsche, and winked to him, and Sally smiled. Behind everyone, Doc drove up to see what all the fuss was going on.
"Our first real customers in years!" Luigi announced. "I am filled with tears of ecstacy, for this is the most glorious day of my life!"
"All right, Luigi, give me the best set of blackwalls you've got." Lightning told Luigi, as the yellow Fiat pressed a button to lift him up, then drop him down, leaving his wheels to hang above the ground.
Luigi and Guido shook their heads to Lightning. "No, no, no, no! You don't-a know what you want. Luigi know what you want."
Braedey drove up. "So, what does Lightning want?" He asked.
Luigi and Guido drove up to a section of the tyre wall where a curtain was covering it. "Blackwall tires. They blend into the pavement. But-a this..." Luigi pushed a button, and the curtains pulled back, now revealing an assortment of... "whitewall tires! They say, 'Look at me! Here I am! Love me'."
McQueen smirked. "All right, you're the expert." Luigi laughed at this. Outside, Doc snarled to himself, and drove off.
"Oh, and don't forget the spare." McQueen told him.
Luigi smiled. "Perfetto. Guido!"
Guido spun his forks around. "Peet stop!"
Now, Guido had his bolt screw at the ready, whilst Luigi held a Ferarri flag. The four whitewalls were set beside Lightning on both sides. Luigi teased the little forklift a bit. Guido was ready to go but stopped. Guess Luigi was testing Guido. Luigi then waved the flag and Guido got started.
He got to work removing Lightning's Lightyear racing tyres, and puts on the new whitewall tyres on within seconds. Lightning was soon set down, and he went over to a mirror to check how the wheels looked.
Luigi laughed. "What did Luigi tell you, aey?"
McQueen smiled. "Wow, you were right. Better than a Ferrari, huh?" He asked.
Luigi frowned. "Aaa, No."
Braedey laughed out loud to that.
~*~*~
At Fillmore's Taste-In, McQueen was trying out some of the organic fuel. "Wow! This organic fuel is great! Why haven't I heard about it before?" He asked he Volkswagen.
"It's a conspiracy, man!" Fillmore announced. "The oil companies got a grip on the government!! They're feedin' us a bunch of lies, man."
McQueen nodded. "OK, I'll take a case."
Later, McQueen was at Sarge's Surplus Hut, checkin. Out what there was in there. As he tried out one of the night-vision goggles, Sarge drove up with what was a caliber gun attached to him, and it had a sign that said 'Guaranteed No Tailgaters'.
Then, Lightning checked out the Curios Shop with Lizzie. They looked at a few snow globes, along with seeing multitudes of different bumper stickers. Then, Lizzie stamped three bumper stickers to Lightning's rear bumper, making the racecar shriek out with each impact, much to Braedey's amusement.
Finally, Lightning arrived at Ramone's, ready for a new look to match. With his tyres and exhaust covered, he was ready. So, Ramone began to spray on a brand new style and look, painting over his original design: a new coat of glittery maroon red paint, whilst having white ovals with a golden yellow outline around them, the shape of the oval similar to a 1959 Corvette's, and inside the white oval was a little gold lightning bolt.
~*~*~
"Here she comes!"
Soon, it was dusk across the small town. The townsfolk were all gathered outside of Ramone's awaiting for McQueen's unveiling. Braedey was oddly nowhere to be found, and Mary was by herself at the Cozy Cone. She just wanted to be alone for a while. Mater had just called out that Sally was coming, and everyone got into position.
"Places, everybody. Hurry!" McQueen whispered to them all. Act natural."
"Hi, Sally." The townsfolk greeted.
Sally drove up to them in suspicion. "All right, what's goin' on?" She asked.
"Ladies and gentlecars, please welcome the neeewww Lightning McQueen!" Mater announced. He and the others backed up, as Lightning McQueen drove out, revving his engine, and revealing his new look. His rear spoiler was even taken off.
McQueen showed his new design to Sally. "Pow! What do you think? Radiator Springs looks pretty good on me."
"I'll say." Sally chucked, then purred, as Lightning moved around her, revving his engine a few times. "Ka-chow. You're gonna fit right in, in California." Lightning stopped back where the crowd was, and looked at Sally. "Oh, my goodness. It looks like you've helped everybody in town."
McQueen smiled. "Yeah, everybody except one." Sally smiled shyly about what he said.
With Mary, she saw Lightning's dramatically new look, and in her head, he looked like a completely different car than what she saw before. But, he was not Braedey, and not seeing him at all made her long to see him.
"Whatcha doing over here?" Mary turned to her right, and to her shock, she saw Braedey right next to her, showing a smile. "Did you really think I would leave without saying goodbye at all to you?" He asked sarcastically.
"Braedey..." Mary muttered quietly, then nudged herself against him, smiling gently. "I was worried you left."
"Even if I did, I wouldn't make it Cali on one tank of gasoline." Braedey commented.
"Hey, is it getting dark out?" Lightning called out to Lizzie.
Lizzie didn't exactly hear that. "What? What'd he say?" She asked Red.
McQueen looked to Sally for a second. "Let me say that again. Is it getting dark out?" He called out louder.
Lizzie looked down at her bumper. "Now, what was I supposed to do after that?"
Red then saved the day, knocking his front left tyre against the radio, turning it on, and the song of 'Sh-Boom' echoed out, as something magical happened to all of the buildings of Radiator Springs.
~*~*~
A/N: apologies for this chapter being short. But, don't worry. There will be more to come in the next chapter.