Cruz left him there, hung facing the floor with a drip pan underneath him. Honestly, being left like that made him panic a bit before calming down. It reminded him of a different time, a different place, a different stage of life, when he was a more arrogant type of person.

Hanging like this gave him too much time to think. It reminded him of the last time he was in this sort of position. It brought up the feeling of barbed wire wrapped around him, scratching his paint, the panic of thinking he was being shot at, his horror and terror that lead to him tearing up the road of a small town. And him, somehow ramping Stanley's statue and catching it in the phone lines, revving his engine, trying to get free before being lifted off the ground and hanging much like he is now.

Make it dark and replace the drip pan with Sheriff telling him he's in a heap of trouble and it'd almost be the same. At least then he had got to pass out and didn't have to deal with the odd sensation of the position; here though it wouldn't be an option, and it wasn't as if he was feeling like he'd pass out anyway.

If it was silly things like this that he was going to be doing for his training, he didn't care for it, nor was he going to find it enjoyable.

He'd give almost anything to have Doc barking orders in his ears again or to at least have his wheels on the ground.

It did make him wonder if the new racers had to do this too, apart from the ever-embarrassing drip pan.

Anyone could see him like this, well at least anyone allowed into the training area. Luckily the press wasn't allowed in, which meant that Chick couldn't get a photo of this, for ammunition, for his jokes that he based around him. For never having been invited onto Chick's show, he was sure talked and mocked about on it a lot. So much so, Mater was banned from watching the show, it got him too riled up and he'd want to defend his best bud; they didn't need that to happen with all the smack talk that Chick threw out.

Cruz still hadn't come back to release him yet; he was getting bored and his thoughts could attest to it. He was tired of the trainees who drove by snickering at him for being up here and having a drip pan, that he didn't need below.

He really was done with hanging here as he once again was thinking of the last time he was in such a position. Reminding him again of that fateful night that he crashed into Radiator Springs. Only this time, once he was down, he would not be getting his gas siphoned while unconscious, and wouldn't be meeting Doc when he woke up and was taken to traffic court.

When Cruz finally did come and release him, he couldn't help but glare at her a bit. She had left him hanging on that thing for far too long, it had felt like forever and had brought up some not so pleasant memories. He wasn't pleased with her and wanted to get his training with her over already, before she could drive him crazy.

So, this came about because I had been wondering if, when Cruz puts Lightning on the contraption that tilts him up, hanging him hood down, to get oil where it hasn't been in a long time and leaves him; if it didn't make him flashback to when he got hung up in Radiator Springs. And this is what came from it.