Title: "Racing the Best"
Author: Kat Lee
Dedicated To: With endless love, as always, to my beloved husband, Jack aka Drew, and our boys, and Lightning & Mater's #1 fans, Jackeesy and Spike Zorro! I love you all, my family!
Rating: G/K
Summary: Mater's ire always races when he's defending Rust-eze.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

"Ooowee!" Mater eagerly taunted, his tow happily swinging in the early summer breeze. "Lightning's gonna beat you so bad that your tires are gonna look square!"

"You are ze square one, little truck," the fancy race car replied. He let his motor idle for the truck, who was known worldwide as being his opponent's best friend, was not worth his attention. "Now go away."

Mater's expression fell into a pout. He was just about to give the Spaniard a raspberry and leave him to return to his cherished Lightning's side when the race car hit him with, "Your Rust-eze is showing, old timer."

Anger boiled in Mater's engine. His oil bubbled. The swing of his tow changed from a happy, carefree motion to repeatedly striking the empty air. A sharp whistle let out from between his gaped, front teeth. "You done did it now! My Rust-eze is showing?!"

"Uh oh," Lightning commented, hearing Mater's exclamation. He sped toward them, calling anxiously, "Huh, Mater?!"

Mater was pass listening to reason, however. First this fool car thought he could beat his Lightning, and now he had just insulted the greatest oil known to vehiclekind! He wanted to embarrass the Spaniard. He didn't just want to see his beloved beat his sparkling, new paint off of him.

He wanted to beat him himself, but he wasn't a race car. Lightning could beat him, tires down. Doc could probably win against him, but how could Mater? Mater's tires spun gravel. The swing of his tow slowed with his sadness.

The blasted Spaniard was right: He was slow, and aging. Mater grinned suddenly. There was one thing he was still better at than anybody else. Two things actually, he thought as he heard Lightning calling to him, but only one of which could help him here. His grin broadened. It would not only help him; it would show the world what a loser this annoying race car really was!

"You're not even in Lightning's league!" Mater exclaimed, and then he did give him a raspberry. The Spaniard gasped his shock at the indignant act, but Mater didn't give him a chance to exclaim more than a few words in his native language. "You're all fancy talk and paint, mister, but I bet even I could beat you!"

"You? You, you little race car?! Your own oil would beat you, and it's Rust-eze!"

Lightning's second, "Uh oh," was drowned out by the roar of laughter not just of his opponent but of all the other cars gathered around him. "Mater?"

Mater pulled himself up to his full height and smiled proudly. "I'll show you."

"Fine, fine, you little truck! We can race! I'll beat you after I beat your buddy!"

"Nah." Mater's cab shook in the negative. His wipers pulled down; his big eyes narrowed with fury at the Spaniard. "I don't want Lightning to get to beat you first. You've insulted me. You've insulted Rust-eze! The race is on, but my rules!"

"Fine, fine, whatever. I'm just going to embarrass you, you old piece of junk!"

Mater's laughter was darkened and shortened by the fury still bubbling his oil. "Nah." He stuck out his tongue at the race car, who still thought he was so grand but was about to learn differently. "I'm gonna embarrass you! We race backward!"

Doc hollered, "THATTA BOY!" His friends cheered him on and laughed with glee, happy that Mater was being so smart, but Mater didn't look at any of them, not even Lightning. He had only one car in his focus at this time, and for a change, it wasn't his lover.

"We start now!" The last word had barely left his grill before Mater was shooting backward. Every bit as swift as his car in a race, Mater sped backwards throughout the viewing area and out onto the actual track. The other vehicles laughed as he spun backward circles around the Spaniard after having completed a full circle on the track before the car could even make it out onto the track. Mater beamed in the light of the laughter as, for once, the strangers weren't laughing at him. He kept spinning circles around the race car until the car finally stopped trying to race him and just set to exploding with Spanish expletives.

Lightning's engine purred as he slid up next to his truck. "I could have told you, Rudy, but you wouldn't have listened to me any way. Your ego has always been too big. You wouldn't have believed my Mater could beat you, but he can beat anybody racing backwards." The press closed in around the tow truck and the two race cars as Lightning pressed his front bumper gently and proudly to Mater's. "He even beats me going backwards," he said where all could hear before looking back to Rudy. "But you should be honored." Mater practically glowed as Lightning told the world what Mater had so often told the race cars Lightning had beaten in the past. "You just got beat by the best."

The press closed in around them then, snapping pictures, scribbling notes, rolling cameras, and shouting for Mater's attention. Lightning watched him from a gleaming windshield full of pride and love. Mater grinned at him, winked, and blew him a kiss before speaking to the press, "Aw, shucks, I might be the best at backing, but that's just backing. Lightning McQueen is really the best there is, and it's him we're here to see today, folks! We'll get on with the races here in just a minute, but first I gotta say one more thing: Lightning McQueen rules, and so does Rust-eze!"

The End