Chapter 22
His Departure
Location: Radiator Springs
Time: 4:43 PM
"Here she comes!" Mater yelled making everyone get into position "Okay, places, everybody. Hurry! Act natural!" Lightning whispered as Sally drove over to them "Hi, Sally!" They all greeted Sally, which made Sally realize that something was wrong. "Alright, what's going on?" Sally asked "Ladies and gentle cars, please welcome the new: Lightning McQueen!" Mater announced as the others backed up, letting Lightning drive out of Ramone's shop "Kh-pow!" Lightning said showing off his new look to Sally "What do you think? Radiator Springs looks pretty good on me."
"I'll say." Sally said, chuckling. Sally makes purring noises as Lightning circles around her revving his engine "Ka-Chow!" Sally chuckled as Ivy smirked at them and Grace chuckled. "You're gonna fit right in in California...Oh, my goodness, it looks like you've helped everybody in town." Sally said "Yeah, everybody except one." Lightning said making Sally tense up a bit with her smile growing a tad.
"Hey, is it getting dark out?" Lightning asked "What?..What'd he say?" Lizzie asked turning to Red "Let me say that again." Lightning whispered to Sally "Is it getting dark out?!" Lightning yelled at Lizzie as Ivy and Grace rolled their eyes "Now, what was I supposed to do after that?" Lizzie asked, making Red hit the radio. Lizzie jumped as music began to play "Life could be a dream! Life could be a dream!" Grace and Ivy sang as the town lit up.
The two continued to sing as all of the stores' neon lights turned on, Sally gasped "They fixed their neon." Sally awed as the lights continued to turn on. "Low and slow?" Flo asked looking over at Ramone "Oh, yeah, baby." Ramone replied as they drove onto the road chuckling. "Just like in its heyday, right?" Lightning asked turning to Sally "It's even better than I pictured it....thank you..."
Grace and Ivy continued to sing as we got shots of the residents cruising along the road and having a good time. After a few moments of that we cut back to Sally and Lightning "Shall we cruise?" Lightning asked making Lizzie drive up between them "Oh, thank you, dear. I'd love to!" Lizzie said dragging Lightning along with her down the road "No no no!"
"Lizzie!" Sally yelled as Grace and Ivy laughed then continued to sing afterward "I remember when Stanley first asked me to take a drive with him." Lizzie said as she drove off with Lightning. Mater drove up to Sally "Hey Miss Sally. May I have this cruise?" Mater asked with a little bow "Of course, Mater." Sally replied then they began to drive only for Sheriff to halt their cruise "A-A-Ah." Sheriff said as they looked up to see the traffic light turn red.
Some tractors began to cross the road mooing as Sally looked through the tractors at Lightning looking back at her "...and again and I said, "no," and he asked me again, and I said, "no..." Sally let out a little chuckle "...but, oh, he was a persistent little burger for a two-cylinder..." Lizzie continued driving as Lightning stopped then turned around "...finally I said, "alright, one little drive..." Lightning looked down the road but didn't see Sally.
Out of nowhere a tow cable grabs Lightning's behind "Oh!" Lightning groaned as Mater laughed and pulled him down the road. Mater flashed a wink at Sally before dropping Lightning off next to her. When Lightning saw Sally he put on a smile "Hey!" He exclaimed "Thanks Mater." Sally thanked as he backed away from the two "Good evening, you two." Mater said, winking at them "Oh, Stanley, I wish you could see this..."
Lightning leaned up to Sally and gave her a little nuzzle making her nuzzle him back "Is that what I think it is!?" Flo asked behind them "Oh, I don't know, Flo. I haven't had a chance to find out. But I am going to find out. Hello.." Sally replied thinking Flo meant something else "Not that! That!" Flo said, making everyone look down the road to see a bunch of lights shining from afar "Customers?.."
"C'mon let's go...I don't wanna get hoarded by a bunch of cars." Grace whispered to Ivy "Yeah..." Ivy whispered back then the two snuck away from the others off to their cones. "Customers everybody! And a lot of them! You know what to do! Just like we rehearsed!" Right after Flo's sentence a beam light shined down on Lightning making everyone gasp "IT'S THE GHOST LIGHT!" Mater yelled with a face full of fear "We have found McQueen! We have found McQueen!"
Cars drove up to them and began to take pictures of Lightning asking a bunch of questions and blinding him with the camera. "Was Lightning McQueen your prisoner?" One of the cars asked Mater "Shoot, no, we're best buds! I ain't bragging or nothing, but I was in charge of hunting him down if he tried to escape." Mater answered. As Lightning and Sally were calling out to each other a horn honking drowned out the cars' questions "You're here! Thank the manufacturer you're alive!" Some of the cars backed up to reveal "Mack?"
"You're here! I can't believe it!" Sally looked up at Mack's trailer "You are a sight for sore headlights! I'm so sorry I lost you, boss. I'll make it up to you..." Mack apologised with a look of guilt "Mack, I can't believe you're here!" Lightning exclaimed "Is that the world's fastest racing machine?" A voice ,familiar to Lightning, asked from inside the trailer "Is that Harv?" Lightning asked "Yeah, he's in the back!" Mack said making Lightning turn around "SHOW US THE BOLT-"
"GET BACK, YOU OIL-THIRSTY PARASITES!" Mack yelled angrily as Lightning approached the back of the trailer "Actually, this is my good side here." Mack said positioning himself in between the press and Lightning "Harv! Harv!" Lightning yelled as the trailer door lowered but there was no car in the back like Lightning expected "Harv?" Lightning asked confused but then the little phone popped up to show Harv was on the line "Kid, I'm over here."
"How you doing, Buddy?" Lightning asked "My star client disappears off the face of the earth! How do you think I'm doing?!" Harv asked as Lightning put on a frown "Harv I can explain-" Harv cut Lightning off before he can explain "I'm doing great! You're everywhere, baby, radio, TV, the papers! You can't buy this kind of publicity! What do you need me for?! That's just a figure of speech by the way you signed a contract. Where are you?! I can't even find you on my GPS." Harv asked.
"I'm in this little town called Radiator Springs. You know Route 66? It's still here!" Lightning exclaimed "Yeah, that's great, kid. Playtime is over, pal. While the world's been trying to find you, Dinoco has had no one to woo. Who are they gonna woo?" Harv asked, making Lightning look down "Chick....." He whispered "Bingo, in fact, check out what's on the plasma right now." Lightning then looked up at the tv on his trailer to see Chick along with his pit crew and Mia and Tia now painted green "Show us the thunder!" One of the cars behind the camera yelled "You want thunder? You want thunder?! Ka-chicka, ka-chicka! Ka-chicka!"
"Hey, that's my bit!" Lightning whined "You've gotta get to Cali, pronto! Just get out of Radiation Stinks now, or Dinoco is history, you hear me?" Lightning looked at the side of the trailer to see Sally driving up "Just give me a second here, Harv." Lightning said as he drove up to Sally "No, no, wait, where are you going?! Get in the trailer, baby! Kid, you wa... You want a bigger trailer?!" As Lightning drove Sally she put on a soft smile with tears forming in both their eyes "Sally, I want you to, look, I wish-" Lightning let out a sigh as Sally continued to smile at him "Thank you...Thanks for everything..."
Lightning sighed then let out a little laugh "It was just a road..." Lightning said, making Sally shake her front side "No....it was much more than that...." Sally said, making Lightning look up at her with his eyes widening a bit. Mack turns around to Lightning "Hey, kid! We gotta go! Harv's going CRAZY! He's gonna have me fired if I don't get you in the truck right now!" Mack yelled making Lightning look behind him at Mack "Mack just...hold it for...." He turns back to Sally.
"You should go."
"I know, but-"
"Good luck in California.......I hope you find what you're looking for.........."
Sally then turned around then drove off "Sally!" Lightning called out to Sally trying to follow her only for cars to block his path asking him to show the bolt while blinding him the camera and making him back up. Mack hooks himself up to the trailer as Lightning backs up into his trailer "Come on, kid, get in the trailer. That's it. That's right, kid, let's go! You're a big shining star. You're a superstar. You don't belong there, anyway." Lightning looks over at his friends one last time before the trailer door begins to close "Whoa Wait Whoa Whoa Wait Wait!"
"Hey, guys! McQueen's leaving in the truck!" One of the cars yelled making all the cars chase after Mack. One of the cars, a teal female car, looked to the side to see Doc watching the cars chase after Mack. She approaches him "Hey, are you Doc Hudson?" The car asked as Doc turned to her "Yeah." Doc answered "Thanks for the call." The car drove off as Doc looked in front of him to see Sally staring at him with a look of disbelief "You called them?" Sally asked "It's best for everyone, Sally...." Doc said "Best for everyone?....or best for you?..." Sally drives off as Doc watches her leave.
Sally drives down the road watching the cars chase Lightning's trailer as Doc also drives onto the road, the residents watch from behind them all lined up, and Grace and Ivy exited their cones. The residents were silent for a moment "I didn't get to say goodbye to him..." Mater said making Doc's stern look soften. They watch Sally as she watches the cars down the road before driving off into her office while shutting off the Cozy Cone lights.
Everyone kept their sad expressions as they drove off back to their stores as Doc stayed in place watching them leave. Grace and Ivy drove down the road towards Doc watching all the store's neon lights turn off. All the lights turned off as Grace and Ivy positioned themselves next to Doc..He glanced at Grace then Ivy "What are you two doing out here?" He asked as he looked up at the street light now only blinking yellow again.
"We didn't want you to be all alone so we thought we could keep you company.." Ivy said as she and Grace also looked up at the street light "That's nice of you but you two should just go to bed." Doc said "We know you called them." Grace said, making Doc's eyes widen a bit but let out a sigh "Sally told you?" Doc asked "It's obvious...Doc I think it might be hard to understand in your grumpy grandpa brain but Lightning has changed...like a lot during these past days. All of our friends were able to change him, even you." Ivy said, making Doc perk up "Me?" Doc scoffed "I think I just made him hate me more rather than actually changed him."
The other two laugh "Yeah, still you still had an effect on his change." Grace said nudging Doc with her tire "Maybe....heh...Sally's probably going to hate me for a while..." Doc said looking down. Grace sighed then shot a glance at Ivy making her glance back a bit confused. Grace smirked a bit before scooted up next to Doc then pressed herself against Doc's side making him tense up a bit. Ivy fangirled as Grace rolled her eyes then put on a soft smile as she looked into Doc's eyes. Doc looked back at Grace and couldn't help but put on a smile and lean on her as well.
"My ship has sailed!" Ivy yelled, making Grace and Doc shh her "The others are trying to sleep!" Doc scolded, making Ivy slouch down a bit embarrassed "Sowwy." Ivy whispered making Grace chuckle "Still...Lightning's changed....I want you to tell the others in the morning about what you did..after that...we're going on a little trip." Grace said then her and Ivy drove away from him. "Where are we going?" Doc asked making Ivy turn to him "California!"