Fanfic / I'll Meet You on Route 62

Veronica "Vee" Vroom: All I could think to do was keep on going till I ran out of gas and then start a new life wherever I ended up.

I'll Meet You on Route 62 is a Cars fanfiction written by Twilit Violet. The story focuses on Mack, a big rig truck and Lightning McQueen's trailer hauler, who settles down in Radiator Springs with the rest of the crew. However, his life takes a rather interesting turn when a friend from the past runs into him... literally. Mack reconnects with this old friend of his, named Veronica Vroom (or simply "Vee"), as she tries to adjust to normal life in Radiator Springs. However, Vee actually has a lot on her tires than she would like to share with Mack, but he's willing to stick with her regardless.

The story was followed by an incomplete sequel titled Keep on Truckin'. You can also read it on the author's DeviantArt account, which have illustrations that go along with each chapter.

(Also, please try to keep tropes for this story and Keep on Truckin' separate. Thank you.)

This fanfic contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: According to Vee during a flashback, her father was quite abusive towards her alcoholic mother.
• Adaptation Expansion: The story fleshes out Mack's character quite a bit, such as showing off his personality, what he likes, and what he does for a living.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • "Vee" for Veronica.
  • "Gas Can" was apparently what Vee used to call Mack back in high school.
• All Men Are Perverts: Both Played for Laughs and Played for Drama.
  • Played for laughs: Most of the male cars in Radiator Springs often openly express perverted behavior around women. Even Mater has a few moments.
  • Played for drama: In what could possibly be seen as a deconstruction of this trope, some of the other men that appear in the story are either drunks or just plain jerks who try and take advantage of Vee.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • Mia and Tia, Lightning McQueen's two biggest fans who constantly flirt with Mack throughout the story.
  • Darla is a non-comedic example. Being an employee at Ford's Escorts, she is an uncaring jerk who has no problem with screwing other men.
• Ascended Extra: Mack is the main character of the story. In the original film, he was merely a relatively minor character.
• Asshole Victim: Both Slade and Joey, who die near the end of the story.
• Berserk Button:
  • Unless you know what's good for you, DO NOT hit on Vee, harm her, or insult her for her past as a prostitute when Mack is around.
  • Vee also really doesn't like being reminded of her past life as a prostitute.
  • Speeding is this to both Sheriff and Sarge, who harass Vee several times throughout the story over it.
• The Bet: In Chapter 9, Sarge, enraged that she never received any punishment for her speeding, decides to have a bet with Vee. Vee would have to drive twenty laps at his boot camp in thirty-five minutes or less. If Vee loses, she would have to kiss Sarge on the lips. But if Vee wins, Sarge would have to kiss FILLMORE on the lips. She does beat the record, forcing him to do his part.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Mack and Vee are nice people, but they can get very angry when pushed over the edge. Mack in particular tends to react violently if someone doesn't get the memo that they should leave her alone, even trying to attack Sarge in Chapter 9 when he goes out of line.
• Big Bad: Slade Ford and his crony Joey.
• Big Damn Heroes: Happens twice.
  • An accidental example happens in Chapter 21, where Vee reveals that Joey was sent to go hunt her down. Joey would eventually find her in the tractor field, where he would try to rape and kill her. Then Frank, a XXL Metroactual Combine who guards the tractors, showed up and chased off Joey. Although it wasn't long until Joey found her again.
  • Chapter 30 would be an excusable example; Mater, Lightning, Sheriff, and Doc show up at the right time to save Mack after he had fallen down into a snowy ditch. What makes this excusable is that Mater had his radio on, and was able to track down Vee's cries for help.
• Big Damn Kiss: Again, happens twice.
  • The first was in Chapter 27, between Mack and Vee when the two are contemplating their situation (Vee getting framed for trashing Doc's clinic, Mack breaking her out of the impound lot, the duo going on the run, and Vee worrying that she's putting Mack in danger).
  • The second was in Chapter 30, where Vee kisses Mater, of all vehicles, deep on the lips as a thanks for him saving Mack.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: Though the "break his heart" part is a bit debatable, Vee tries to run away from Mack and writes a note telling him not to find her, believing that she's causing Mack nothing but trouble after he injures himself from a nasty fall down a mountain.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Vee has an emotional breakdown in Chapter 30 after Mack fell down a mountain during a snow storm at the end of the previous chapter and is laying on his side, seriously injured and at risk of dying from cold, especially when Mack wants her to just leave him there.
  • After hearing Mack's Love Confession and that he only came with her because he wanted to in Chapter 31, Vee breaks down again, but much more stably this time.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Mack is apparently bad at telling truck jokes.
  Mack: It’s a trucker joke, you wouldn't get it.
  Vee: Oh I get it. That's the problem.
• Chekhov's Gun: The story starts off with a bunch of tractors running loose throughout Radiator Springs. It later turns out that they were accidentally released when Joey was searching for Vee in the tractor fields.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Though he's a bit shy about it, Mack does display some perverted behavior here and there throughout the story. However, Mack still respects women nonetheless, and is heavily against using them for sex. He even scolds Vee when she suggests selling herself out for some money when the two of them are out on the run.
• Darker and Edgier: The story is a lot more mature than Cars, as it includes several cases of profanity (nothing extreme however), sexual themes, and some violence.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Vee. She had a drunk of a mother and an abusive father, then took a job at an escort service where she wasn't treated any better there. In other words, her life pretty much fell down the drain at that point.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Vee is this in spades.
  • Mack also has a few moments of being one.
• Deconstruction: The story shows quite disturbingly the downsides of fanservice, such as showing just how much it would suck to be a prostitute and that being a beautiful looker would also make you a target for horrible men. Not to mention, Vee had a pretty rough life. She only became a prostitute because it paid well, but that most certainly doesn't mean she enjoyed that type of life.
• Disney Death: At the end of Chapter 33, Vee gets crushed by a truck trailer alongside Slade and Joey, though unlike them, it's revealed that she's still alive, although badly injured, in the following chapter.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Slade Ford is a Ford F150.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: On the other hand, Vee finally manages to set her life straight by the end of the story. Slade and Joey die, which means she no longer has to worry about them. Her and Mack also get back together after she had tried to distance herself from him. And finally, she starts earning more respect from the rest of the townsfolk at Radiator Springs.
• Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": Sarge's real name turns out to be "William Armyson".
  Vee: Oh yeah. That’s reeaaal original.
• Fantastic Racism: It's implied that Big Rigs like Mack himself often face prejudice for their hulking size, making them appear frightening to smaller vehicles.
• Funetik Aksent: Mater's text is written to emulate his southern accent.
• Greater Need Than Mine: Mack is perfectly willing to put Vee's safety above his own.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Mia and Tia don't even try to hide their envious disgust for Vee when they see her hanging out with Mack.
• Hate Sink: Slade is definitely not one of the most likable characters out there. A misogynistic jerkass who is only interested in sexual perversion and killing other vehicles.
• Hot Paint Job: Vee gets one mid-way through the story, going from green to violet, which is her original color scheme.
• Hotter and Sexier: As noted by several other tropes listed here, there's a quite a lot of sexual humor/drama throughout the fic (nothing extreme however, besides some attempted rape).
• Mooning: In Chapter 12, Ramone moons everybody at the theater upon seeing the cars in the movie they were watching do it. Much to the laughter of everybody there (sans Mia and Tia).
• Innocently Insensitive: When Vee crashed into Mack, she was unconscious and immediately rushed to Doc's clinic. Afterwards, everybody (sans Mack and Doc of course) started discussing if Vee was a man or a woman since it all happened so quickly. Lightning assumes that Vee was a man since, according to him, women can't drive that fast, which offends Sally a little.
• Interspecies Romance: In a way. Mack, a truck, would eventually fall in love with Vee, a regular car.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Goes both ways.
  • Mack willingly becomes a fugitive after busting Vee out of the impound lot, tries to convince her to never return to her old prostitute life, and tells her to leave him after he badly injured himself upon falling down a mountain into a gorge. All to make sure that Vee is happy and stays alive.
  • Vee personally considers herself to be nothing but trouble for Mack, and after this incident,she tries to distance herself from him by going back to Los Angeles after the.
• Just Friends: Mack and Vee... for the first half of the story, that is.
• Loophole Abuse: Vee only does one lap on her first day at boot camp, claiming that she doesn't have to do all twenty laps in one day as the rules don't state that she has to.
• Love Confession: Mack in Chapter 31; after Vee runs away, Mack tries to connect to her through his ham radio, unaware that he was actually successful.
  Mack: I know we’ve been through a lot together these past few weeks, but please - please don’t blame yourself for any of it. None of this was your fault. I came all this way with you because I wanted to, not because I had to. I know I can turn back any time and just forget about you, but… no. No, I can’t. I can’t imagine how I could have gotten this far without you, but there’s no turning back now. I don’t know if you can even hear me, but… I love you...
• Male Gaze: Vee likes to joke that Mack can't stop staring at her back bumper. Mack tries to defend himself by saying that he has to look at her bumper because we would most likely ram her if she were to randomly hit the brakes (that and the fact Vee would often change her bumper stickers, which Mack likes to read).
• Manly Tears: In Chapter 31, Mack breaks down, and when he finally confesses his love for Vee after she runs away, he's crying, which Vee notices despite the fact that it's raining where he, Lightning, Mater, Doc and Sheriff are. He bursts into tears again in Chapter 34 when Vee is unresponsive after she got crushed by a truck trailer.
• Ms. Fanservice: Deconstructed with Vee. She's shown to be a Dude Magnet that catches the eye of a lot of men... including unwanted attention from horrible, perverted drunks.
• Nightmare Sequence: In Chapter 3, Mack has a nightmare that the Chrysler who crashed into him^note This was before we find out who the Chrysler (Vee) was was a mother who died while her children tried to wake her up. Then Mack is attacked by a giant Guido.
• Noodle Incident: In Chapter 19, when the gang are at Flo's telling jokes, Lightning recalls a time when Mack got stuck under an overpass due to misreading the clearance sign, and then got in trouble with a cop since he was building up traffic (and was fined for being a smartass to said cop).
• Not So Above It All: Doc is typically portrayed as being more down-to-earth then the rest of the cast, but when Mack, Mater, and Ramone somehow get a potato stuck in Sheriff's exhaust pipe while playing a game of Hot Potato in Chapter 19, even he was fighting the urge to laugh.
• Official Couple: Mack and Vee by the end of the story.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Vee is rarely ever referred to by her real name, Veronica Vroom.
• Only Sane Man: Doc and Mack are this to Sarge and Sheriff, both of whom despise Vee very much.
• Original Character: Excluding any minor characters, there are about six original characters included in the Cars cast:
  • Veronica "Vee" Vroom, the deuteragonist. A violet (formerly green) Chrysler who is an old friend of Mack and his eventual Love Interest, as well as the co-protagonist alongside him.
  • Slade Ford, a black Ford F150 who is the owner of an escort service called "Ford's Escorts" and Vee's former boss.
  • Joey, a silver SUV who is Slade's crony.
  • Yvette, a white Corvette who works at Ford's Escorts and, during her time there, she was Vee's only friend.
  • Darla, a red Mercedes who, unlike Yvette, was rather cold and harsh towards Vee, and otherwise preferred to work for Slade.
  • Robbie Dieselman, a white Dodge street van who is only seen during a flashback was shown to be the school prankster.
• Rage Breaking Point: If someone goes overboard with trying to take advantage of Vee or insulting her, Mack often gets aggressive and attacks whoever's responsible. In Chapter 26, a green truck keeps showing perverted behavior towards Vee, trying Mack's patience, and the last straw is at the end of the chapter, when he harasses her in his trailer, which enrages Mack so much that he violently beats him up until he's sure that the other truck learned his lesson.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Vee admitted that Joey attempted to rape her before killing her.
• Remember the New Guy?: Vee is an old friend of Mack, who they've apparently known since high school.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Mack breaks Vee out of the impound lot after she gets falsely arrested on the accusations of thrashing Doc's clinic, knowing that if she stays there, she'll be at the mercy of Slade and Joey.
• Serious Business: Neither Sheriff or Sarge have any tolerance for speeders (though in Sheriff's case, it's more justifiable) and hold a deep grudge towards Vee for most of the story since she was speeding when she first entered Radiator Springs.
• Shout-Out:
  • The gang watch Grease in Chapters 11 and 12.
  • There are a few songs included in the story (most of which are from the original film), such as "Life is a Highway", "Route 66", and "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
• Straw Misogynist: Neither Slade or Joey have any particular respect for women.
• Tomboy: Vee. She even considers herself to be one of the guys.
• Troll: Vee sure does love messing with Mack, Sheriff, and Sarge.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Well, "Whole Chapter Flashback" but same principle. Chapters 17 and 20 take place entirely within flashbacks. Specifically...
  • Happy Flashback: Chapter 17 shows Mack and Vee back when they were still in high school, and the duo going to the prom together.
  • Troubled Backstory Flashback: Chapter 20 initially shows how Vee even got to Radiator Springs in the first place, by running away from Ford's Escort (a place that is basically Hell to her).