Ride

Chapter 1- Happy New Year

*Fanfare* My brand new original story, Ride, is here! I can't guarantee it's gonna be great. The main reason I'm writing this is so you understand a couple of things when I put Fudge in Cars 3. This story takes place about a year and a half after Cars 2, which makes Fudge twelve years old in this one. I'm also trying to include some symbolism in the story, so if you're interested in that, pay very close attention to how I describe the weather at certain points throughout the story.

Warning: This story is has a trigger warning for themes and the occasional implied swearing, which will be asterisked out like in my other stories. It's gonna be a pretty sad story (if I can get the emotion right) and boy, are you in for a... ride! *Chuckles sheepishly* I'll let myself out. Anywho, just thought I'd give you a heads-up.

Disclaimer: I regret to inform you that I do not own Cars. All recognisable car-acters belong to Disney/Pixar. Fudge belongs to me as well as any other human characters or vehicles you don't recognise from any of the movies. I've tried to include as many canon characters as possible, but there are also plenty of OCs. Although, I'm worried it might be a little too much.

Now, without further ado, please enjoy...

Ride

Chapter 1- Happy New Year

"Hey, Fudge, come on!" Lightning McQueen called out in an attempt to be heard over the loud music, cheering crowd and constant whine of party blowers that could be heard coming from inside Flo's V8 Café. "Countdown's about to start!"

"Coming!" Twelve-year-old Brittney "Fudge" Rossi-Topolino leapt to her feet and joined Lightning at the entrance to Flo's. "It got really loud in there!" she explained. Fudge was autistic and didn't enjoy too much noise and chaos.

"What?!" Lightning shouted.

"I said it was too loud in there!"

"What?!" the stock car repeated.

"I said-" Fudge began.

Lightning couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Fudge gave a pout as she tried to look annoyed, but couldn't stop a small grin from pasting itself across her face.

"I hate you!" she declared.

McQueen ruffled her curly, dark brown hair affectionately. "I'm sorry, Fudge-O", he informed her, laughing, "but that was pretty funny!"

"I'll get you back!" she vowed, trying to look angry.

It was December thirty-first 2012. Midnight was just two minutes away. Of course, the townsfolk of Radiator Springs, Arizona, were throwing a huge party to celebrate the New Year. All thirteen of the town's residents got together for the occasion. This was the third year that Fudge had been allowed to stay up for the party. Until New Year's Eve 2010, she attended the party, but either still had to go to bed at her usual bedtime or she fell asleep before midnight. A bunch of visitors were there too, including Francesco Bernoulli, Finn McMissile, Holley Shiftwell and Sammy Rose, who had spent the holidays with the citizens of the small town.

"Do you think 2013's gonna be a good year?" Fudge wondered as she readjusted the party hat on her head, which was decorated with colourful pictures of balloons.

"I don't know", Lightning responded. "It sure looks good! I mean, I got a new Piston Cup season to look forward to, we're probably gonna head overseas at some point to see Francesco and the others-"

"And have you beat them all in a race", Fudge interjected with a grin.

"Yep, that too", Lightning agreed, chuckling.

"Did you know that 2013's gonna be the first year since 1987 where all the numbers in the year are different?" Fudge asked Lightning.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was on Facebook and some idiot asked, 'What about 2000?'"

"Really?" he repeated, only this time he was laughing.

"Yeah... I hope they were kidding!"

"Me too."

"But that's the first time it's gonna happen in my life!" Fudge went on. "That's pretty cool. Especially for the Year of Fudge."

"The Year of Fudge?" the race car echoed, puzzled.

"Yeah, I think this year's gonna be a really good year", she explained. "I mean I'm pretty nervous about turning thirteen" (Fudge dreaded the idea of becoming a teenager) "but still, I've got a feeling that good things are gonna happen to me. The Year of Fudge!"

Lightning smiled. "Right... Well, at least you're positive! And I know my year's gonna start off great..." He was gazing at a certain baby blue Porsche as she chatted and laughed with the other partygoers.

"Are you gonna kiss Sally at midnight?" the human girl wanted to know.

"Yeah."

Fudge made a face. "Ew." She loved teasing Lightning by pretending that kissing was gross.

Lightning laughed. "Give it three or four years, Fudge-O!"

"No!" she cried.

"Fudge! There you are!" human spy Sammy Rose greeted her fellow human as she entered the café with Lightning. Sammy had just approached with Sarge and Fillmore, to whom she had just been talking.

"It got too loud in here!" the twelve-year-old explained.

"What?!" Fillmore asked, genuinely unable to hear her.

"It got too loud in here!" Fudge yelled again.

"What?!" Fillmore questioned again.

"Forget it!" Fudge stalked off. "I am not doing this again!"

Sammy, Sarge and Fillmore stared at each other, confused. Lightning burst out laughing.

"What was that about?!" Sarge wondered.

"What?!" Fillmore repeated.

"Hey, honey!" Flo called to Fudge as she drove past with a tray full of drinks. The ex-show car always liked to make sure that everyone had a drink at midnight, so they could all have a toast after all of the kissing. She gave Fudge a can of soda. "Here's your drink! Now, go and find your dads! They're lookin' for ya!"

"Thanks, Aunt Flo!" The tween took the can and headed off in search of her adoptive parents.

"Fudge! We were just about to look for you outside!" were the first words out of Luigi's mouth when his adopted daughter approached him.

Before Fudge could respond, everyone in the café began yelling excitedly, "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!"

The crowd prepared themselves for their New Year kisses. Lightning and Sally were going to kiss each other, obviously. So were Flo and Ramone and Mater and Holley (again, obviously). Finn and Sammy were going to kiss just as friends. Luigi and Guido had both been planning on kissing their daughter. Several of the other townsfolk had found tourists to kiss.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

And all at once, everyone hollered at the top of their lungs, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

That was when all of the kissing began. It was the perfect way to start the new year. 2012 was over, but 2013 looked promising as well and the townsfolk of Radiator Springs were all ready for the exciting new year, full of many great possibilities that lay ahead of them.

"All right, everybody!" Flo shouted once all of the commotion had died down. "Grab your drinks and raise them!" The entire crowd obeyed, raising their drinks. "To 2013!" the café owner cried.

"To 2013!" everyone else echoed, clinking their cans.

"The year of Fudge!" Fudge grinned along with the cars and occasional human around her and repeated her earlier thoughts to the crowd. "It's gonna be a great year! I can feel it!"

Kind of a short chapter, but future chapters will be longer and (I'm hoping) more interesting.