FicWad

Chapter 4: Friends in the Winning circle!

ON EARTH!

Throttle and Modo ride side by side with Mandy and Kerry as they head in the direction of the explosion.

"So lets get this straight, Limburger is a Plutarkian stink fish, right?" Kerry asks.

"That's right." Throttle nods.

"And it was mainly him and a weasely looking scientist named Carbuncle that had captured you and had done experiments on you?" Mandy asks next.

"Yup." Modo responds simply.

"Now Limburger is here, on Earth to try and do what he did on Mars?" Kerry asks again.

"You got it." Throttle answers again.

"Good. Then this adventure should be a snap." Mandy stated, snapping her fingers.

"How so?" Modo takes a turn to ask a question.

"Well, according to some letters we received from Vinnie that winning the Motorcross race on Saturn was more difficult then going up against Limburger and his henchmen." Kerry chuckled.

"Yeah, we should know. We were there when he crossed the finishing line." Mandy adds.

"I wouldn't count all your chickens before they hatch, just yet." Throttle warns, "We've made the mistake of underestimating Limburger before. Nearly got us killed a few times."

"Well, you don't need to worry about us, Throttle dear. Mandy and I are very resourceful." Kerry coos.

********


- Flashback -

EIGHT YEARS LATER!

A grand event, the Motorcross race of the Galaxy, has decided to happen on Titan this year. The past eight years, Vinnie discovered his talent for racing. He has entered many races each year. All but one he came in first place. His first race he came in second. Being that he was only seven at the time it was quite an achievement for him and his family. This is, however, his first big race. And as usual he ended up being the youngest participant that entered.

Vinnie doesn't really want admit he is nervous. This isn't only the biggest race in the Galaxy, but its also the most dangerous. He hasn't ever done something so reckless and dangerous before. He looks down at his old black bike and pondered if it might make it through the entire race. Lately his bike has been acting up, especially when he went to grab a snack and came back to see a few of the parts missing.

Suddenly a hand touches his shoulder. Vinnie turns around to see Russell standing beside him with a proud look on his face.

"You know it is every mouse's dream to participate in a race like this." Russell begins to say.

"Thank you, sir." Vinnie smiles.

Russell pauses to look down on Vinnie's old bike. Indeed it has served him well over the past eight years, but he knows that it isn't suited for a race like this one. Just by looking at it, Russell can tell that someone had tampered with it as well. Russell turns to Vincent with a smirk.

"This bike has really done well over the years for you, hasn't it?"

"It has," Vincent smiled, but then frowned. "But I think something is wrong with it. It won't run as smoothly."

Russell bent down to get a better look at it. As suspected, he noticed that someone has tampered with Vinnie's bike. He somehow knew this would happen. Each year there is at least one cheater in this race.

He looks over to Vinnie with concern. "I don't think this bike will be able to race, my boy."

"Awe," Vinnie whined. Frustrated, he throws down his wrench down on the hard ground and crossed his arms. He really wanted to participate in the race.

Russell places a reassuring hand on Vinnie's shoulder. Vinnie slowly looks up at him with questioning eyes.

"Perk up, Vinnie. I have a surprise for you. I was going to wait for your birthday for this, it just can't wait." He tells him.

"What is it?" Vinnie asked with a little bit of interest. He still is upset that he won't be racing.

Russell guided Vincent to turn around. Sitting between his mom, and Julie sat a beautiful cherry red bike. Vincent stood speechless.

"Is that really for me?" Vinnie said finally finding his voice.

"Yup. I just finished it last week." Russell proudly says. "Vinnie, you've always been like a son to me. I would be honored if you would ride this bike in the race."

"I-I don't know what to say..." Vinnie stuttered.

"How about saying 'thank you' Vinnie sweetie." Valerie tells her son.

Vinnie turns to Russell with a wide grin on his face. "Thank you."

"Say Vincent, there is still an hour before the race will start. Why don't I show you how to run this bike, so you can take it for a test ride?" Russell suggested.

"Ok." Vinnie agreed.

As Russell starts showing Vinnie the controls on his new bike a tall figure walks up behind them.

"Ahh-choo!" Sneezed Vincent.

"What's wrong?" Russell asked in concern.

"I don't know. I, ah, ah, ahh-choo!" Vinnie sneezed again.

"Looks like your boy here has gotten himself a cold. Awe, that means he won't be able to race today...too bad." Mocked the stranger.

Vinnie and Russell turn around to see a tall male humanoid cat with black fur.

"I assure you that my boy is not sick." Valerie stated as she walks up past the cat and towards her son. She does a quick examination to his face before looking back at the black feline. "Just as I thought. He doesn't have a cold, just allergic reaction... to you." She accuses.

"Well, this will certainly be an interesting race then," the cat chuckled. "Oh, by the way, nice new bike you got there."

"I don't' trust him, dad?" Julie whispers harshly to her father.

"Neither do I sweet-pea. You can never really trust a cat, that is for sure." Russell told her.

********

FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER!

Vinnie just makes it back from his test run on his new bike. The race is just five minutes from starting. Julie runs up to Vinnie and hands him a pink cloth.

"Hey Vinnie, I almost forgot to give you this. I made this for you." She cheers.

"Awe, sweetheart, a pink bandana. How very feminine of you." Vinnie joked.

"Very funny. It's for luck." Julie chimed.

"Thanks sweetheart." Vinnie smiles as he allows Julie to tie the bandana around his neck.

"I know you will win, Vinnie. I had a dream about it." Julie admits.

For extra reassurance, Julie reaches up and gives Vinnie a friendly kiss on the cheek. The both of them look into each other's eyes for a brief moment before Vinnie finally puts on his new helmet that matched his new bike. He pressed the side of the helmet, which activated a blue force field that would protect his face from flying debris.

"RACERS TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!" The over-head announcer cried out.

"Well, this is it." Vinnie stated with a slightly nervous tone.

"You will be awesome." Julie coos convincingly.

Vinnie smiles warmly at her.

"Vinnie, you be careful out there." Valerie warns. "And if possible, stay away from that cat."

"Don't worry, mom, I'll make him eat my space dust." Vinnie winks.

Before Vinnie goes to sit on his bike, he again looks up at Russell. They both glance into each other's eyes knowingly. Russell gives Vinnie a 'good luck' nod without needing to say a word. Vinnie returns the gesture with another nod. He then straddles on the bike and starts her up.


The flag goes down indicating the race is now beginning. Many contenders are determined to win this race no matter what the cost. A few racers were left at the starting line with troubled engines. Some riders had actually been run right off the tracks and were disqualified. More racers took a bad turn and collided with each other. Vinnie himself almost ended up in the middle of another collision, but he escaped by swerving to ride up a rock that is shaped like a ramp. He leapt off of it, and landed right in front of another rider, which brought him in at fourth place.

Valerie watched in great horror as her son is now racing in the big leagues. She saw already three separate accidents involving a total of twelve racers. It impressed her that Vinnie had evaded a collision and brought himself closer to the lead, but naturally like all mothers, she still worried. Russell wrapped his arm around her and held her close to him. His smile helped calm her down enough to enjoy the rest of the race.

Julie sat quietly and admired how well Vinnie is racing. She looked over and saw some of their classmates cheering in the stands. One of the girls in particular seemed most interested in what is happening in the race. Somehow, Julie knew that everything was going to be ok.

As Vinnie and the three other racers turned the corner, he comes up to a familiar competitor. The black cat turned to spot the young mouse coming up fast along his left side. An evil grin creeps up on the black cat's face.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the li'l white mousy. You should actually be home with your mommy. This race is far too big for you to handle." The black cat sneered.

Vinnie fought the need to sneeze, but failed. "Ah, ah, ahh-choo!"

"Time to put you out of this race, li'l mousy." The cat pushed a few buttons on the crankcase on his bike. In result, spikes appeared out from the side of both of his wheels.

Vinnie gasps when he spots the spikes. He performs every trick he can think of to avoid the spikes. Suddenly he gets an idea. As the cat zigs one last time to hit Vinnie's front tire, Vinnie brakes quickly then swerves up along side the cliff. Vinnie looks over to the cat as he passes, and gives him a mischievous grin.

"Asta-la-bye bye, kitty." Vinnie growls.

Vinnie then comes down right in front of the cat, clipping his front tire. The cat looses control and goes tumbling down the cliff on the right side of the road.

"MMMEEOOWE!" The cat cries out as he rolls down the hill.

"Man, I'm good." Vinnie chuckles to himself.

The race is now coming near to the end. Vinnie starts up the after burners to catch up to the last two racers. He manages to pass them a few seconds before crossing the finishing line. The crowed goes wild as the cheered for the winner.

"YEEAAAAHHHOOOOO!!!" Vinnie yells, leaping off his bike with his arms thrown high above his head. He throws off his helmet and places it on his new bike. "Who's the baddest mamajammer in this whole universe?" He crows.

Before he could greet his family that are running up to him in the winning circle, a female white-furred mouse with brunette hair rushes up to him and gives him a passionate kiss on the lips. After a moment, the girl pulls away. She stares dreamingly into Vinnie's eyes.

"Hi, I'm Mandy." She purrs seductively. "And I think you are sexy."

"Well, hello Mandy. I'm Vinnie." He responded with a pleasantly surprised expression.

"Meet some of my friends." Mandy says as she addresses two other female mice behind her. "This is Kerry and Janice."

"Nice to meet you. Let me introduce you to my family. This is my mom, my best friend Julie, and her father, Russell." Vinnie proudly states.

"Cool. Would you all like to join us at the Victory Party tonight?" Mandy asks.

"Heh, is a motorcycle a mouse's best friend?" Julie chimes.

The photographer has Vinnie standing in the middle with Julie, Valerie, and Russell posing on the right of him. Mandy, Kerry, and Janice pose on the left side. The picture is taken and they all head off to the party. It is certainly a proud moment for all of them.