A Race Car In Axle City

Meeting Blaze Family

After Watts, Gabby, Blaze and AJ managed to calm Starla down and save Speedrick from her wrath, the girls went to Starla's barn to get some air away from the race car while the boys headed to the park.

"Are you... Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Speedrick gulped, still shaken by the cowgirl's attack earlier.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Blaze asked, confused.

"Um, Blaze, remember what happened with Pickle?" AJ reminded his best friend.

"Oh, that's right," Blaze turned to offer his friend a smile. "Don't worry, Speedrick, as long as we don't run into Crusher and Pickle, everything will be fine. Besides, my family's playing soccer, and I figured that since you're here, you might wanna play with us...?"

"With your family?" Speedrick was taken back. "Well, since you're inviting... alright, I will play. As long as we don't run into the little demon, of course,"

"First of all, I don't think you should call Pickle a 'little demon', especially in front of Crusher," AJ warned him. "Second, great. They're just at the field, and they're waiting for us already,"

"Great..." Speedrick shuddered. If that small green truck could blast him out of a building, what else could that large dark blue truck do? 'Rather not take that risk.'

Blaze offered his friend a reassuring smile before he and AJ sped up to lead him further into the park. Soon, they made it to the soccer field, where a family of three were laughing and practicing at one of the goal posts. Blaze beamed at the sight of him.

"Mom! Dad! Sparkle!"

The trio turned around and cheered, driving towards him. "Blaze! AJ!"

Speedrick watched awkwardly and grumpily as the family embraced on another. He rolled his eyes and kept himself from visibly gagging.

Blaze and AJ were his friends, he kept reminding himself. He shouldn't disrespect their little moment, no matter how disgustingly gushy and chummy it was.

As soon as the family separated, the race car sighed in relief and cleared his throat to catch their attention. Blaze heard him and turned to him with a smile before turning back to his family.

"Mom, Dad, Sparkle, this is our race car friend, Speedrick," he introduced, glancing at them repeatedly. "Speedrick, this is my Mom, my Dad, and my little sister Sparkle,"

"Hello!" Blaze's Mom, Phoenix, greeted.

"Hi there!" Blaze's Dad, Flame, grinned.

"Nice to meet you!" Sparkle waved at the race car.

"It always is," Speedrick smirked, holding his head high. "Nice to meet you all as well,"

"Who's ready for a game of soccer?!" Flame cried out, taking the ball into his tires.

"We are!" Blaze and AJ exclaimed.

Speedrick reluctantly agreed. Truth be told, the only sport he was ever gonna consider was racing. Soccer? Not so much, no. But... he was gonna play with Blaze and his family, so he might as well play nice and hope to not get his tires all wrecked because of the game.

They headed to the field and split into two teams; Phoenix, Flame and Sparkle vs. Blaze, AJ and Speedrick, with Flame and Speedrick being assigned as the goalkeepers. The race car was relieved that he didn't have to run around and get his tires too dirty with grass and dirt.

The game started off simple, with Blaze and his mom hitting off most of the goals towards each other's goal. AJ and Sparkle had their attempts, but they usually passed it to get a higher attempt to score a goal. Flame worked hard to avoid a goal while Speedrick barely left his stand, only moving whenever Blaze and AJ were expecting him to (then when they turned away, he brushed away any muck he got on his tires).