"No. Finders keepers." Celia said, keeping Espeon away from Ash.
[Please... stop... this! I don't... feel... so good.] Espeon said. With all this moving and shaking in Celia's arms, it was probably going to throw up.
"Give me my Espeon!!! It's mine!!! I found it first!!!" Ash yelled out and the two got into a stare down. Espeon leapt out of Celia's arms, thanking god that she's as stubborn as Ash and ran back to the Toyota garage for safety. He didn't hear Charizard fly towards pit land and land in front of the BAR pits. The teams got out their fire extinguishers just in case Charizard's tail lit something on fire.
"Ash!! I found an injured Vaporeon on the old Monza banking." Charizard said, but Ash was still locked in a stare down with Celia.
"Not now, Charizard. I'm in a staredown with Jenius' kid!" Ash said,
"Dammit, man!!! A wounded Vaporeon needs our help!!!" Charizard said annoyed that Ash would rather get his Espeon back instead of helping a Pokémon in need.
"Tell someone who gives a rat's ass." Ash said. Charizard was ready to burn Ash to a crisp, but thought against it. There was plenty of fuel around and the place would go sky high and he didn't want to be a killer of tons of innocent people. Charizard needed to find Meowth and he's always in the Toyota pits with 30 minutes before the formation lap. This time, Ash's talking cat Pokémon/agent was in the Ferrari pits, talking track conditions with Jean Todt and Keith Terrell. Meowth always gives the teams the latest track conditions before the race just because he wants to be a nice Pokémon in the eyes of the teams.
"Looks like it's going to be a fine day. Not a cloud in the sky and around 71 degrees. The Michelin cars will be tough to beat today." Meowth said, giving his latest reports to Jean Todt and Keith, who was now stuffed after his pre-race snack.
"Aren't they always in warm weather." Jean Todt said,
"Yeah. But the Michelin cars are starting near the back, because most of them had bad setups yesterday. Rubens and I won't have to deal with them." Keith said as Charizard came to a stop right in front of the Ferrari garage.
"Meowth. I found a wounded Vaporeon lying on the old banked track." Charizard said,
"Why are you telling me this? Shouldn't Ash hear this?" Meowth asked and Charizard pointed to Ash and Celia still in a stare down in the BAR garage. "Oh. How bad is the Vaporeon?" Meowth asked,
"Bad. It was probably attacked by another Pokémon and injured. I found it when I was getting ready to take my race nap at the banking before after the second time intermediate. You know what part of the track I'm talking about?" Charizard asked,
"Yeah. The track goes under the old banking. It's at the second time intermediate and before the Variante Ascari chicane." Keith answered,
"Well, let's go get it the help it needs. I'll come along with you and we'll do a dust-off. But, there is nobody in F1 can knows a thing about healing Pokémon." Meowth said,
"Take the Pokémon to Professor Sid Watkins in the FIA medical room. He may not know a thing about Pokémon, but he can fix up anybody with ease." Keith said. Meowth and Charizard both nodded as the cat Pokémon hopped on the Fire Pokémon and took to the sky, en route to the old banking.
**********
As the Italian fans were gearing themselves to see the Grand Prix, Formula One viewers all over the world were all geared up to watch the race. Even people are getting up at 3 A.M. to watch the race. In Kanto and Johto, it's nearing 10 P.M. halfway across the world. A lot of Ash Ketchum fans were ready to cheer on their driver as he goes for 2 wins in a row. All of them were members of the Ash Ketchum Fan Club, dedicating their time and love for the Pokémon trainer/Formula One driver from Pallet. Around 200 girls were in a park in Celadon City, watching the race in Japan's version of Speed Channel. Some of those girls actually met Ash during his journey and each one was trying to one up the other girl about which girl spent the most time with Ash and so forth. Each time the TV zoomed in on Ash, the girls would go crazy, each time they went to another driver, they would all boo until Ash was seen again. It's much worse when the F1 gang heads to the United States. There, everybody is pulling for Keith Terrell. Speaking about our favorite American, he was already in the car and ready to go to the starting grid, while Rubens was finishing up some Q & A from reporters. The Italian fans just love the Ferrari team and they actually like the idea of Ferrari having a team Pokémon. As for Growlithe, he was resting peacefully on one of the used tires from Qualifying despite the noise of the V10 engines howling.
"Keith. The track is green. Head out and shake down the car. Come back in if anything is wrong, otherwise, head for the grid. We'll meet you there a bit later." Ross Brawn radioed,
"Understood, Ross. I'll head for the grid if I don't find a problem." Keith said and he drove the red Ferrari out onto the track. When the fans saw Keith drive out, they cheered loudly as usual. The crowd was still cheering as Michael Schumacher entered the garage.
"I still can't get used to that. And I've been with the team since 1993." Jean Todt said as Michael joined the two,
"Is Keith on the track?" Michael asked as he peered his head out of the garage to see Keith's car in the Goodyear chicane,
"He's out right now. That's why the Tifosi is cheering. Rubens is getting in his car now." Ross Brawn answered as he pointed to Rubens being strapped into his #1 Ferrari,
"Good." Michael said as he walked to the team entrance and pulled Lorelei into the place. "I don't want Keith to know that brought his girlfriend to Monza for my plan." Michael said,
"Sir, I'm not supposed to be in here. In fact, you begged me to come here for your twisted plan of yours. And he's not my boyfriend!!" Lorelei said, unsure if she was allowed to be in there and she was denying the fact that she secretly likes Keith.
"Nonsense. As long as you got that special all access paddock pass I gave you, you can go anywhere. Besides, we need you to distract him after the race." Michael said,
"Distract him? What for? So you can bash his head in with a mallet? What is this plan, Schumacher?!!" Lorelei ordered as she grabbed Michael by his shirt and looked him right in the eyes. Michael sighed for a second. He had to tell her the real reason he brought her here.
"Alright, I'll tell you my plan, since Terrell's on track. It's his Birthday today. Keith's 25 years old today and we didn't even know about it." Michael said,
"One thing about Keith Terrell, he knows how to keep a secret from everybody for a long time." Ross Brawn said as Lorelei let go of Michael's shirt and he fixed the collar,
"So, how did you know Keith's birthday was today?" Lorelei asked,
"He tells his personal stuff to Riley, Ronin and Francois. The four of them were at a photo shoot in Berlin last week and Celia Jenius, who is Riley's daughter, heard this and they didn't know she was there. Then, she went to his newly made website, found his birthdate to make sure it was right and came here with Riley with the info. Being the little motormouth that she is, told everybody in the paddock on Friday Morning and begged them not to tell Keith. She even called me on my cell phone to tell me this!! So, we're throwing him a surprise party for him after the race. So, we need you to keep him distracted for about 3 hours so we can get ready." Michael said,
"Well... I'll go along with it. As long as I'm not a hindrance to you or the whole team." Lorelei said. She was a bit uneasy about being inside an actual Formula One team garage. She was secretly praying that nobody would try to jump her and kill her for being a former member of the Elite Four. From the look of every man and woman on each team, they were too busy trying to dethrone the Ferraris at Monza.
"Trust us. You're not." Michael said and the crowd cheered loudly as Rubens exited the Ferrari pits and took to the track. Rubens gave a small wave to the crowd and sped onto the track. Over in the Toyota garage, Ash sat inside his Toyota TF105 as the crew made final adjustments to the front wing. Some jackass on the Jordan team had dropped a tire on it and the front wing broke.
"Come on, goddammit! I want to go already!!!" Ash said impatiently. The crew was finished with the adjustments and he drove out of the Toyota pits to take his place on the starting grid. Ash would be starting 9th and the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello is on the pole, with Keith and his Ferrari in 2nd. Juan and his Williams were starting in 4th place. With 15 minutes before the cars rolled off for the formation lap, all 22 cars were in their qualifying places. The teams made some last minute changes to the cars or downloaded some information from the car's onboard computer for some telemetry readings, but they can't make changes with the computers anymore. Some of the drivers talked with the media while others sat in their cars with their helmets on, waiting to go to work. Ash stayed inside his car and prepared himself mentally for the 53-lap race. Keith was also inside his car, but he took off his helmet and spoke with some of his Ferrari mechanics about the tires not gripping in Parabolica, the long sweeping right-hander that leads to the front straight so the crew made some final tweaks to the car. Rubens was talking to Michael, Jean and Ross about his concerns about Variante Goodyear during the start of the race. That chicane was a left-right-left-right chicane that was part of the original circuit back in the day, but was chopped up in favor of a very tight right-left right chicane in 2000. In 2004, the chicane was the sight of a lot of crashes, which made it an exciting race for the Tifosi to watch. Keith Terrell took his 2nd career win for Ferrari that day, holding off Juan Pablo Montoya and Olivier Panis. For 2005, the officials widened the chicane so the drivers can have a faster entry and now slam hard on the bakes a lot of times.
"Let's see if I can make it 2 Italian Grand Prix wins in a row for me and Ferrari. That will be a great birthday present for me." Keith said to himself after the Ferrari guys finished their tweaks on his car and left to make adjustments on Rubens' car. Keith ran his fingers through his trademark blue hair and sighed. He didn't see Celia Jenius pop out of nowhere like she usually does and Keith screamed out. This time, she was carrying a small gift box with her.
"Hello!!" Celia said cheerfully like she always did as Keith tried to regain his breath,
"Do you want to give me a friggin' heartattack like the one that nearly killed Bernie?!!" Keith asked,
"No. What are you doing?" She asked,
"Sitting here. Why?" Keith asked. He thought this was beginning to be 20 questions of something. Then, Celia showed him the small box.
"This is for you. It will bring you good luck." Celia said as Keith took the small box and opened it, revealing a plush Suicune doll. And inside of the box, was a really cute birthday card.
"How did you know it was my birthday today?" Keith asked. Celia handed the Ferrari driver a paper she printed off the Internet. It was Keith's bio page from his own website called, The Keith Terrell Experience!! He made the site with ease before coming to Italy. "Oh, yeah. I forgot that I made my own webpage. And I got over 10,000 hits?!! Damn, I must be popular!!" Keith said as he saw the hit counter on the paper. Then, he thought that Celia must have told EVERYBODY in the paddock that his birthday was today. "Say, kiddo. Have you told anybody that my birthday was today?" He asked. Celia just shook her head no real fast. "You sure?" Celia shook her head yes real fast in response. Keith was satisfied that she didn't tell everybody. Boy, if he only knew why everybody has been silent around him this weekend. After skipping away from Keith's stationed Ferrari, Celia found her father Riley, chatting with a guy from Speed Channel. He was busy discussing his run during Qualifying.
"We're here with BAR driver, Riley Jenius. So, who was your Qualifying lap where you snagged 8th?" The announcer asked,
"My car wasn't performing the way I usually wanted it to. It was a bit too loose in the corners, but I was happy with the horsepower the Renault guys put in our new engines for the race." Riley answered as he ran his fingers through his messy brown hair for a second, getting some strands out of his eyes. He and Ash nearly have the same messy hairstyle, but Riley's is a bit wilder than Ash's.
"So, do you think you will be able to score any points today? You crashed out on lap 5 of the race last year." The guy asked. Riley thought about the question for a second before answering.
"Well, I think I do have a shot at a few points today. It would be great if I got a few more points after my run in Belgium last time. Olivier may have a shot for the podium if everything goes..." Riley went on as he talked about his predictions for the race. But, somebody else had other plans in mind.
"HI, DADDY!!!" Celia said as she popped into view of the TV cameras and said her usual cheerful hello, which scares everybody around her. Everybody around her screamed out in fear and some of them fell to the ground. Riley recovered from her shock and he was now embarrassed "Ash is mean!!! He won't let me play with his new cute doggie!!!" Celia said, trying to get her daddy to beat up Ash by using her charm. Riley on the other hand, knew that nobody else in the Formula One world knew of his daughter.
"Celia... Daddy is busy here. Now, go run along and watch the race in the BAR lounge." Riley said as his face went into blush mode. The racing world and the fans of F1 don't even know about Celia and he would like to keep it that way. During the 2 weeks she has stayed with her father, she embarrasses him on an hourly basis, telling everybody how a great Daddy he is to the whole team and everybody she meets on the street. Riley hates being embarrassed by anybody, even his own kid! The Speed Channel guys looked at Riley, demanding an explanation.
"Well, Riley Jenius. Who is that little girl who called you "Daddy?" The Speed Channel guy asked. Riley just sighed, meaning he just gave up on trying to hide her from the public. Celia was hiding behind Riley's legs and he bent down to pick her up in his arms.
"Speed Channel, Formula One fans around the world... I want to introduce to you all to my daughter, Celia Jenius." Riley said, finally introducing the world to his daughter. Celia gave a really cute smile and waved to the camera.
"You're a father? She's just like you!!! Who else knew about this?" The Speed Channel guy asked, a but shocked that the craziest driver in Formula One history would have a child of his own, let alone a girl.
"Everybody in Formula One." Riley answered. The Speed Channel guy was shocked. This guy is actually near the drivers all the time during the race weekends and he didn't hear a thing about Celia. He wanted an answer.
"Why didn't you tell us this, Jenius?!! All of the Formula One fans have a right to know!!" The guy yelled out,
"Because you're a dickhead!!! If it was Bob Varsha, Dave Despain or David Hobbs, I might have called them to set up an interview or go on Wind Tunnel!!" Riley shot back. Celia had enough and decided to take action.
"You're mean!!! Stop being mean to my Daddy!!!" Celia said as she jumped out of Riley's arms and gave the Speed Channel guy one of her patented flip kicks, which got him right square in the johnson!!! As the Speed Channel guy went down for the count, Riley laughed a bit.
"That's Daddy's little girl." Riley said as he took Celia's hand and walked back to the BAR garage. Charizard and Meowth arrived at the place where the injured Vaporeon was lying. It was clear that the Vaporeon got in a big ass fight with a stronger Pokémon and lost. Charizard thought that the Vaporeon may have battled against a Pidgeot, a Fearow, a Sneasel or something with real sharp claws.
"Damn. Looks like he got the crap beaten out of him." Meowth said, taking a good look at Vaopreon's injuries. The Bubblejet Pokemon was still alive, but it needed help fast! They saw a lot of cuts and bruises and Charizard thought that the evolved Eevee may have some broken bones.
"Let's get this Pokemon out of here. I thing that Pokemon that did this will be back for more." Charizard said. How soon would he be right. Just a minute after arriving, the Pokemon that took out the Vaporeon, came back with a few friends. The Pokemon was a Skamory, a Steel/Flying Pokémon. And the lead Skamory, which was a real tough looking Pokémon, wasn't very happy to see Ash's Pokémon protecting its dinner.
[Hey, that's my meal, buddy!!] The Skamory said,
"Meal? You almost killed it!!" Meowth yelled out,
[I know. That little bugger put up a fight, but I won. It will make a great meal for my friends and I.] The Skamory said, now getting itself ready for a battle.
[You'll have to go through me first!] Charizard said, reverting to the Pokémon language for this altercation only. As the two got ready to fight, Meowth had other ideas and stopped Charizard from flamethrowing the Skamory bunch.
"I'll handle this, Charizard. MEOWTH!!!" Meowth yelled out and delivered a powerful Thunderbolt from out of nowhere. Since Flying types don't like Electric attacks, the 3 Skamorys got the crap shocked out of them big time. Charizard took the opportunity to use Flame Blast, cooking all 3 Skamorys well done. Since Fire attacks are super effective against Steel Pokémon, they didn't have a chance and fainted.
"That was easy. Now let's get going and get this Pokémon some help!!" Charizard said as he picked up the Vaporeon and Meowth hopped on his back. Charizard took off into the air and went straight for the paddock.
**********
The time for preparation was over. The time to race was now. The 22 drivers drove off the starting grid for the formation lap, with the Ferraris leading the way. Every driver was now in racing mindset and tightened their belts up once more before the start. The drivers took their starting places and the red lights went on. One by one, they went off until they all went out and the Grand Prix of Italy at Monza was on!!! Already there was some dicing going on as the drivers sped out from the grid. The Ferraris got away badly as Jenson Button overtook them in his Sauber and both Rubens and Keith were in 4th and 6th. Montoya took the chance and passed both Ferraris as Ash's Toyota and Ralf's Williams were mixing it up!! Riley and Panis had bad starts in their BAR cars with Riley stalling in his 9th place spot. Panis' tires were spinning real bad because of no launch control and found himself starting in 14th instead of 6th. The rest of the field got underway without any problems as Riley got the car started and was behind Kimi Raikkonen. The field raced right for the Variante Goodyear chicane and with this close racing, something had to give. And Ralf Schumacher was the guy to do it. He was behind Ash's Toyota at Goodyear and tried to slam into the young man to take him out with the front right tire.
"Schumacher's attacking me!! I'm losing it!!" Ash radioed to the Toyota crew as he made contact with Rubens' right rear tire, which made the Ferrari's front crash and bust Jenson Button's suspension. The front of the Sauber made contact with the back of the Williams, ripping off the rear wing and sending the Columbian spinning. All hell officially broke loose right there. With nowhere to go, the drivers held on for dear life as they prayed they would get away unharmed. Just after Ralf nailed Ash, his Williams collided with Keith's Ferrari hard, causing something to stick.
"WHOA!! Schumacher just nailed me real good!! I think something's stuck!!" Keith told Ross, who was watching the monitor on the pit wall. The single computer that the FIA will allow the team to use was showing Ross and the Ferrari team that Keith's throttle was stuck.
"Step on the clutch and blow the engine, Keith." Ross said calmly, but Keith was starting to panic. Not only did the hit make the throttle stick, it also broke the clutch so Keith can't overrev the engine to make it blow up and stop running.
"The clutch isn't working!! I don't have any brakes!! I can't stop!!!" Keith yelled out as he slammed his left foot on the clutch pedal, but it was broken. His brakes were gone as well. As Keith's stricken Ferrari motored on, Rubens' car was locked in with Jenson's Sauber and he saw Felipe Massa's Sauber heading right for him.
"I'm gonna die!! That Sauber is going to rip my head off!!" Rubens yelled out and he closed his eyes to wait for the inevitable. Instead, Massa's car started to spin out and slam hard into Rubens and Jenson's cars. The two Saubers locked together with the Ferrari as they crashed. Ash's car crashed into the side pod of Montoya's Williams and sent the Toyota into the air, where it landed hard in the gravel trap, but it landed on its wheels. Alex Yoong saw the whole thing start and he, along with Eddie Irvine, shot through the chicane to safety, but Irvine's Jaguar got its front wing ripped off by Olivier Panis' totaled BAR, but he went on. Riley Jenius and Kimi Raikkonen both slammed on the brakes when it started and tiptoed their way to safety. Allan McNish and Tomas Scheckter made it through as well, but Scheckter punctured both front tires and ripped his front wing off his Renault by his own teammate, Jarno Trulli. As the crash ended, Keith's Ferrari was on a one-way course for the Armco. His car didn't stop as it bounced over the gravel traps. At that speed, many people won't expect him to survive. Even the Ferrari team was worried.
"Keith, what's going on?!! Stop the car!!" Ross ordered, but he saw monitor go red, meaning the car's systems have all failed. Keith was on his own.
"I CAN'T, ROSS!!! HELP ME!!" Keith panicked. His fear was evident through the radio. That was the last time the Ferrari team would hear his voice, as his Ferrari busted through and destroyed the Armco barrier and was on a one-way trip through a forest at a speed of 150 MPH. All of a sudden, there was the sound of a car smashing into trees, a tree crashing to the ground and then, the engine finally blowing up. Nobody talked when Keith hit the forest.
"Dear god... he hit that barrier at 150 MPH. Nobody can withstand a hit like that, not even him." Jean Todt said as the crash finally ended and smoke bellowed from the accident scene,
"He's dead. He has to be. He nailed the barrier head on." Ross Brawn said as every team in the paddock watched the TV pick up the medics heading for the crash and to where Keith's probably dead body was at.
He's dead? No, it can't be. He's not... he's not!!! I barely got to know him!! Lorelei thought to herself as she ran out of the Ferrari garage with tears in her eyes. Ross wanted to go after her, but he felt Michael grab his arm.
"Let her be, Ross. She's never seen the real ugly side of Formula One racing." Michael said as he let Ross go. They all thought he was dead. Even his best friend Riley thought so as he drove by the scene.
"That's it!! He's dead!!" Riley yelled out as he and the survivors drove to the pits. Looks like September 18, 2005 will be forever a dark day in Formula One history. A day which will be synonymous with the death of Ayrton Sennaon April 1, 1994. The Ferrari team didn't notice Rubens Barrichello's radio on and hearing him sob quietly to himself as he was stuck in a Sauber sandwich.
**********
Many people might have thought that the drivers in the wreck were injured really bad or killed. The wreck in the Variante Goodyear corner was huge. Parts of the cars were all over the place, tires ripped away, fiberglass pieces scattered throughout. The cars themselves were either buried in the gravel trap, flipped on their air boxes on the track, shattered to pieces or slammed right into the Armco barrier. Only 6 drivers out of the 22 that started made it with cut tires and broken front wings. The race was now red flagged by the stewards, because the Variante Goodyear corner was blocked and a giant mess was to be cleaned up, which would take a long time to do because of the magnitude of the crash. The fans were most worried about their two beloved Ferrari drivers, Rubens and Keith. They were right there when the wreck started because Ralf tried to knock Ash out of the race. Rubens was the meat in a Sauber sandwich, meaning his car was right between the two totaled Sauber Petronas cars of Button and Massa. Keith on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. After Ralf hit Ash's car, the Williams hit Keith's car, causing the throttle to jam and probably sending Keith to his death. Riley Jenius, Kimi Raikkonen, Allan McNish and Alex Yoong made it through without a scratch. Eddie Irvine and Tomas Scheckter had both their front wings ripped off and front tires flat, but their cars were fine. After it was over, everybody was wondering who was alright as the rescue crews arrived. Nobody got out of their cars for around a minute after the chaos.
The first driver to awake was Ronin Vertigo. He hit David Coulthard and went airborne. He took out the steering wheel and climbed out of his battered Arrows to the roaring of the Italian crowd. At least one person was ok. After putting the steering wheel back on his car, the medics arrived to see if he was all right.
"Oh... what happened?" The Russian driver asked as he took off his helmet and fire mask,
"You've just been in the F1 equivalent of NASCAR's Big One. Meaning, you and 15 others were in a giant crash." The first medic answered,
"Damn. Is the race red flagged? I need to get my spare car." Ronin said as the medics escorted him to awaiting ambulance,
"Yeah. Just come with us to the medical center to get checked out." As Ronin was being loaded into an ambulance, Takuma Sato crawled out from his over turned Jordan and was helped up by some medics.
"Damn. That was a big one." Sato said as he then got on the ground and reattached the steering wheel to his destroyed Jordan. He knew Eddie Jordan isn't going to like this.
"Are you all right, sir?" The medic asked,
"Yeah. Just a bit shaken and stirred, but I'm fine." Sato said as he was taken to the medical center along with Ronin. The other drivers started to come to and they all got out of their cars as well. Charizard and Meowth returned to the paddock with the Vaporeon and saw the 6 surviving cars stop on pit lane, but Ash wasn't there.
"Looks like somebody fucked up real bad and took out everybody. I bet it was that ass, Ralf." Charizard said,
"Ash is probably fine. Now, let's get this Pokémon some help!!" Meowth said as they headed for the FIA medical center. Back at the crash, Mark Webber got out of what's left of his European Minardi Chevrolet. The car split in two when the Arrows of Francois Deletraz nailed him. The driver's half of the car was intact, but the engine half of the car was resting in a forest. Luckily, nobody was there to get nailed by a hurling V10 engine. Paul Stoddart radioed him after Webber made contact with the team, telling Mark that Ralf started the whole thing and Alex made it through in one piece.
"Ralf Schumacher's in trouble." Webber said as a medic arrived to take him to an ambulance. David Coulthard was out of his McLaren, which was resting by the right side of the track with its front suspension gone. After talking with the medics, they decided that he was fine and let him walk back to the McLaren garage. The race was now red flagged because of the crash. Coulthard knew that Prof. Watkins was going to be busy, checking out every driver in the wreck, making sure they are in good health to race. David headed to the McLaren garage to talk to Ron Dennis about getting a new front suspension on his car and getting Giancarlo's spare car ready. He then bumped into Lorelei at the McLaren entrance. She ran out of the Ferrari pits after Keith's crash into the forest.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. It's my fault." David said as he extended his hand to help her up,
"No, it's mine. I didn't see where I was going." Lorelei said as he accepted David kind gesture and was helped off the ground. She took off her glasses and wiped her eyes of any stray tears. David wondered who this woman was and why she was carrying a Ferrari all access paddock pass. His thoughts strayed to Keith. He heard from some medics that he maybe dead. In David's mind, it was a real shame. He liked Keith a lot and it will hurt Formula One if he is dead. Suddenly, a BAR guy ran out of the BAR garage.
"HE'S ALIVE!!! TERRELL'S ALIVE!!!" The guy yelled out, getting everybody's attention.
"What?!! I thought he died in that crash!!" David said as he ran to the nearest TV monitor in the BAR pits. David and Lorelei both saw Keith stagger into view with his helmet on and his steering wheel in his hand. He gingerly moved his way past his destroyed car, past the busted trees and through the hole the Ferrari made in the Armco. Then, Keith dropped the steering wheel and fell to the ground. He threw off his helmet and fought with himself to remove the fire mask from his face. His face told everybody that he wasn't all there. Keith tried to get back up on his feet, but he finally passed out. That hit took everything out of him as the medics carefully placed him on a stretcher for a one-way trip to see Professor Sid Watkins.
He's alive! Oh, thank god!! Thank you for protecting him. Lorelei thought, thanking God for protecting the man she secretly has a crush on. Looks like Terrell avoided death in the car as well as avoiding death by Team Rocket. Ash Ketchum walked back to the Toyota garage after being looked over by the medics at the accident scene. He was cleared to race, but his car wasn't. It was beyond repair with the front suspension totaled from the crash and his mechanics were hard at work preparing Ash's spare car. Ash was pissed off at Ralf for crashing into him and was showing it.
"Fucking Nazi!!!" Ash yelled out as he threw his helmet to one of his pit members and stormed to his motorcoach. Miyamoto was pissed too, but she and Sylvie had to get Ash's spare car ready. They were somewhat glad that Allan McNish made it through.
"Damn Ralf. None of this shit would have happened if he didn't try to take us out again." Miyamoto said as she and Sylvie took a good look at Ash's wrecked Toyota. The engine inside it was perfectly alright, but the rest of the car was beyond repair.
"And the spare car doesn't have the new engine that's inside Ash's primary car. So, if he uses that engine in the spare, he'll have a horsepower shortage." Sylvie said,
"At least McNish made it through. So, we'll have to get Ash's car ready." Miyamoto said as Bernie Ecclestone entered the Toyota garage and surprised everybody inside. Since the race is red flagged, he gave the go ahead to the teams to use their spare cars if their cars were damaged beyond repair.
"I just gave the order to the other teams. You will all have one hour to get the spare cars ready or make repairs to the cars that can be repaired. And here's the kicker, if you finish before the other teams can get their cars done, your old qualifying position will be thrown out and you can take 7th place in the grid. If you miss getting 7th, you can take 8th place and so on." Bernie said,
"So, fix your car real fast and get the best starting spot you can get?" Miyamoto asked,
"That's the plan. The one-hour time limit will begin shortly. I would suggest you get ready." Bernie said and he left the Toyota garage. Sylvie, Miyamoto and most of Ash's pit crew didn't say a word. In fact, Sylvie was actually thinking about something.
"Miyamoto... since you like to hang around the engine department, how long does it take to swap engines from one car to another?" Sylvie asked, breaking the silence in the garage.
"45-50 minutes. Why?" Miyamoto answered hesitantly, unsure what Sylvie has planned.
"I want the engine from Ash's primary car in the spare. We might start at the back, but the horsepower in the engine will get us to the front in no time." Sylvie said as she pointed to Ash's spare car. Miyamoto understood and she now had a look of pure determination on her face.
"Okay, people!! You all heard her!! We got one hour to do an engine change!! We got to get Ash's new, powerful engine into his spare! Let's move!!!" Miyamoto said as she rallied the team together and got to work taking off the engine covers of both cars. The 1-hour car prep and repair time has begun. As the teams got to work repairing their cars and getting the spare cars ready, Professor Sid Watkins and his team were checking over all the drivers in the crash. His team was done checking over Nick Heidfeld when the medics wheeled Keith Terrell into the medical center. The F1 doc wanted to check all the drivers that were in the wreck to see if they were okay to race, but he's more worried about Ferrari driver #2. The one that was in the crash of the decade!!
"Okay, people! This one's mine." The F1 doctor said as he went to work looking over a still out of this world Terrell. All of a sudden, Keith finally came to from his out of the world state. He shot up and looked like he was ready to toss his cookies.
"I am going to puke. Get out of my way." Keith muttered as he looked around for a bathroom with a toilet. After finding one near where he was, Keith slowly walked that way, dropped to his knees and started to throw up his pre race snack and breakfast.
"Looks like that hit caused some stomach problems in Mr. Terrell. Along with a lot of motion sickness." Prof. Sid told his assistants. Keith was done puking and the assistants got him back on the examination table. He wanted to be sure that Keith was perfectly all right after his brush with death.
To Be Continued...
Leave it to Ralf Schumacher to screw up a Grand Prix weekend. Not only did he take out Ash, he took out the rest of the field!! And despite that giant ass hit, Keith Terrell is still alive!!! Now, the teams will have to work their asses off, trying to fix their wrecked cars or getting the spare cars ready to race. If you work fast enough, you can start higher.
In the next chapter, the race will be restarted. Can the Toyota team actually change the engine from his wrecked car to his spare in less than one hour? Will Keith be cleared to race after his hit? And did that crash with the Saubers screw up Rubens Barrichello? Watch for chapter 28 soon!!
As with every chapter, please read and review or send any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas or flames to Hornet19us@Yahoo.com.
Mario Alvarado
4/16/2003
Giancarlo was screwed!!! Giancarlo was robbed!! Giancarlo was derailroaded!! Poor Giancarlo!! Damn you, Kimi!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!