Blaze and the Monster Machines: Sleepwheeling

Axle City. A city where all the citizens are vehicles of some kind. All that are not children, at any rate. There are two human children. But that's not the point. Here, we have Blaze and his best friend and driver AJ at their place in the city. They live in what looks like some kind of lab. They were getting ready for a little special event. This was going to be their first slumber party in Axle City and they wanted everyone to be there.
"Okay, let's see...music...snacks...movies...games...looks like we're all set," said Blaze.
"Hold on. Forgot something," said AJ.
He busted out their sleeping mats to sleep on when it was time to go to sleep.
"Well, it's not a slumber party without the slumber part," said Blaze.
They were then off to go and invite their closest friends. They headed off to Starla's ranch where she was busy plowing the fields with her wheels.
"That should about do it," she said.
"Hey, Starla!" said AJ.
"What brings y'all here?" Starla asked.
"We're having a slumber party and wanted to know if you wanted to come," said Blaze.
"Hoo-wee! You know I'd love to come to a slumber party!" Starla agreed.
"Great! See you tonight!" said Blaze.
Next, they headed to the prehistoric valley where their friend Zeg resided. He was busy organizing his boulder collection.
"There. Zeg finished with arranging boulder collection," he said.
"Nice collection, Zeg," said Blaze.
"Thank you, Blaze. Zeg take great pride," Zeg thanked.
"Zeg, would you like to come to our slumber party?" AJ offered.
"Zeg love to!" Zeg agreed.
"We'll see you tonight!" said AJ.
Next, they headed off to Stripes' Jungle. He was busy prancing through the trees, having a little game of tree swinging with a car gorilla.
"Nobody can out-swing me, old friend," said Stripes.
Just then, Blaze and AJ arrived.
"Are you busy at the moment, Stripes?" Blaze asked.
"Time out!" Stripes told the gorilla.
"What brings you guys over?" Stripes asked.
"We're having a slumber party tonight. You wanna join us?" Blaze offered.
"Sure! I would be happy to attend!" Stripes agreed.
"See you tonight, Stripes," said AJ.
Next up was their friend Darington. He lived at the skate park where he would do all sorts of cool tricks off the ramps.
"DARINGTOOOOOOOOOON!~" he cried with panache. He made a bit of a shaky landing, but it was good enough.
"Nice trick, Darington," said AJ.
"Thanks. I can do those and some others in my sleep," said Darington.
"Speaking of sleep, tonight, AJ and I are having a slumber party. You wanna come?" Blaze asked.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Darington accepted.
"Great! See you tonight!" said AJ.
"I can't wait," said an excited Darington.

Meanwhile, at the gas station, the biggest, baddest, most downright cheating truck Crusher was just a little bored. He yawned to show it.
"Hey, Crusher! You wanna play catch with me?" his best friend Pickle asked.
"No thanks, Pickle. We did that yesterday," Crusher sighed.
Just then, Blaze's horn sounded, which makes Crusher uncomfortable.
"Oh, great. Here comes Mr. Everybody-Loves-That-Do-Gooder himself, Blaze," he sighed.
"Hi, Blaze!" Pickle greeted.
"Pickle, don't talk to him. You know he and I have our differences," Crusher ordered.
"Crusher, Pickle, we came by to ask you something," said Blaze.
"If it's if I'm gonna stop cheating, the answer is no," said Crusher.
"No, it's not that," said AJ.
"Oh, thank goodness," Crusher sighed relieved.
"What is it?" Pickle asked.
"Would you guys like to come to our slumber party tonight?" Blaze invited.
"You...want us...at your slumber party? Even after all of the rotten, yet totally justified, things I tried to do to you and your friends?" Crusher asked.
"We figured you deserved a break," said AJ.
"Well, as long as there's nothing too messy or noisy, I think I can come along," said Crusher.
"You bet we'd like to come!" said Pickle.
"Great! See you both tonight!" said Blaze.
"You hear that, Crusher? We're going to a slumber party with Blaze!" Pickle cheered.
"Whoopee..." Crusher sighed.

Gabby was getting ready for her things to take to the party and closed up her garage early for the day.
"That should do it," she said.
The sun was ready to go down and it was time for everyone to head off to Blaze's place for the party.
"I'm been lookin' forward to this all day!" Starla cheered.
"Me too," said Stripes.
"Zeg three!" Zeg added.
"This is gonna be a lot of fun," Gabby believed.
When they got to the party, they noticed Crusher was there, too.
"CRUSHER?!" they all gasped.
"Oh...hey, guys. How's it going?" Crusher asked a little awkwardly.
"We didn't think you would be at Blaze's slumber party," said Stripes.
"What gives?" Darington wondered.
"Blaze and AJ invited us to come, so we were more than happy to," said Pickle.
"Well, Pickle was, anyway. I just came because I didn't wanna be alone tonight," said Crusher.
"You promise not to cause any trouble tonight?" Gabby asked.
"Cross my engine," said Crusher.
"Come on, everybody! Let's party!" Pickle exclaimed.

They all headed on in and their hosts were happy to see them.
"Glad you could all make it," said Blaze.
"Even Crusher," Darington added.
"So, what do you wanna do first?" AJ asked.
"What should we do first? There's so much to decide!" Gabby answered so excited.
"Ooh! Buffet!" Zeg cheered.
He rushed over and got some of the snacks.
"Let's watch some cool movies," Stripes suggested.
"I hear there's a good one about a real athletic car," said Pickle.
"We gotta check it out," said Blaze.
They all decided to watch the movie about the athletic car. It was doing some stunts that the others were impressed by, but not Darington as much.
"I could do stunts like those in my sleep," he stated.
"I'd like to see you try," Crusher joked.
"I didn't mean it literally," said Darington.
"Who wants to play some games?" AJ asked.
"I'm in!" said Pickle.
They were all playing a board game together. Gabby rolled the highest number there was and made it to the end.
"Tripe star bonus kazoo!" she cheered as she blew into the kazoo.
"That's the sixth time in a row Gabby won," Crusher complained.
"Crusher, remember what you promised," said Pickle.
"Yeah, yeah," Crusher sighed.

The music was really picking up and the cars and kids were dancing their bumpers and booties off.
"Now that's a beat I can shake my blinkers to!" Starla cheered.
"Definitely Top 40 material," Blaze thought.
Just then, it was about that time for everyone to go to sleep.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm more tired than...well...my tires," said Stripes.
"Zeg need nap," said Zeg.
"Aw. We were just getting to the good part," Pickle sighed disappointed.
"We can save it for tomorrow, Pickle. Right now, we should probably get some sleep," said Blaze.
"Okay," said Pickle.
And so, they all rolled out their sleeping mats and went right to sleep.
"I never thought I'd say this, but...this was actually kinda fun," Crusher admitted.
With that, they all went to sleep.

That night, everything seemed so quiet. The others were resting up very well. But then, something was kicking around in Darington's sub-conscious.
I could do stunts like those in my sleep.
Those words echoed inside his head, and something stranged happened. He was still asleep, but he started to wheel on out of the lab and onto the streets of Axle City. Pickle woke up and said,
"I need to get a drink of oil."
With that said, he headed up to get some oil, but when he got it, he tried saying good night to everyone, but when he got to Darington, he saw that the daredevil truck was gone and spat out his oil. Right on Crusher by accident.
"Oh, yuck! Pickle! You squirted oil all over my face!" Crusher complained.
"Sorry, Crusher. It's just...Darington's gone!" Pickle panicked.
"What?" AJ asked.
"Darington's missing?" Gabby asked.
"Well, I'll be a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs! This is terrible!" Starla gasped.
"Darington go bye bye!" Zeg panicked.
"Maybe not. Wherever Darington is, he couldn't have gotten far," said Blaze.
"We gotta find him!" said AJ.
He hopped into his best buddy and was ready to go.
"AJ, give me some speed!" said Blaze.
With that, they rode off.
"Yeah, okay. Good luck with that. We'll just be here when you get back," said Crusher.
"We should go help them," said Stripes.
"Who knows what kind of trouble Darington could be getting into?" Gabby wondered.
"Not me. But we'll find out soon enough, I think," said Pickle.
They all headed out.

The streets of Axle City were lit up by the streetlights and some people were still out at this hour.
"Darington!" Blaze called out.
"Darington!" AJ echoed.
But there was no answer from him. But they weren't too far off from him.
"Look! There he is!" said AJ.
"Why is he out here at this hour?" Blaze wondered.
They could hear some sounds coming from Darington's mouth. But they weren't words. They were snores.
"Is he...still asleep?" AJ wanted.
"Uh-oh...I think Darington is...sleepwheeling!" Blaze figured it out.
"Is that like sleepwalking, only with the wheels of a car?" AJ wondered.
"Pretty much," Blaze answered.
Darington was wheeling all the way to the harbor where all sorts of cranes were still active.
"He went into the harbor!" said AJ.
"This could get ugly," said Blaze.
Darington sleepwheeled right into a giant pipe and started doing some loops in it and got launched out of it like he was shot out of a cannon.
"Did you see that?" Blaze wondered.
"How did he do that?" AJ pondered.
Just then, a crane came by and grabbed Blaze's bumper.
"Gaskets! I'm hooked!" he punned.
Just then, Starla's lasso came into the scene. She grabbed the crane and held it into place, giving Gabby enough time to unhook Blaze.
"There you go," she said.
"Thanks, Gabby. You too, Starla," said Blaze.
"Don't mention it!" said Starla.
"Did you see where Darington went?" Blaze asked.
"I think he might have gone down to the recycling plant," said Pickle.
"The recycling plant? But the smashers could...well...smash him!" Blaze claimed.
"What are we waiting for? We gotta get going!" said AJ. They wheeled on off to the plant.

At the plant, Debris the garbage truck was making sure all of the recyclable goods were compacted and ready to be used again.
"Ah, oui oui! Today has been very, how you say, productive," he said.
Just then, Darington came wheeling on into the smashing process without knowing about it.
"Sacre bleu? Ees zat Darington?" Debris gasped. "I must stop ze assembly line!"
Debris tried to stop it, but the off button was jammed.
"Oh, what a tragic sight zis will be for mon friend," said Debris.
"Darington! Come back!" Blaze called out.
"Blaze? AJ? Et tu?" Debris asked.
"Debris! Shut off the smashers!" Blaze requested.
"I am afraid I cannot! Zee button will not cooperate!" Debris pointed out.
There were so many smashers and Darington was swerving past all of them. Blaze and AJ took their time to get out of that mess.
"That was a close one," said Blaze.
"I think my heart stopped pounding for a second," said AJ.

They got out of the plant, but now Darington was heading right for the train station and riding on top of the car instead of inside it. He still couldn't see what was happening due to his sleep state.
"Darington! Get off of there!" said AJ.
But Darington couldn't listen. They tried to get him off, but the train started with them on it and took them for a wild ride.
"This won't end well," Blaze thought.
Zeg saw what was going on there.
"Zeg save you, Blaze!" he called out. The dino truck got onto the tracks and stopped it dead in its tracks, no pun intended, with his mighty horns so they could get off. Darington took off for another location.
"Thanks, Zeg," Blaze thanked.
"Now look where Darington is going," said AJ.
Darington was off to his home.
"Well, at least he'll be safe in his own home," said Blaze.
Just then, Darington was going up his tallest ramp that reached for the clouds.
"You had to say it," Crusher sighed.
"DARINGTON!" Blaze and AJ shouted.
Darington took off down the ramp with Blaze and AJ trying to follow him and stop. They were a little too late for that. Darington leaped off the ramp.
"I can't watch!" AJ panicked.
Just then, their daredevil buddy landed on Axle City's largest pillow. It was a very soft landing.
"You can look now, AJ. Darington just landedo n Axle City's largest pillow," Blaze told his driver.
"Phew," AJ sighed relieved.
"Now look at where he's going," said Pickle.
Darington was off to a late night race at Axle Stadium.
"I don't think he should be racing in his sleep," said Blaze.

The monster machines that were gonna be racing in tonight's race were raring to go.
"ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...GO!" the referee announced.
The machines took off with Darington riding on into the scene.
"And it looks like we have a last second entry from Darington!" said the referee.
Blaze and AJ drove into the scene.
"Come back, Darington!" said Blaze.
"And Blaze, too!" said the referee.
They were going around every sharp turn, bumpy bump, oil slick, and other obstacle that came to mind. There were some obstacles that did not seem very appropriate for the show itself like spikes, a giant snake pit, and a few others to name, but somehow, despite sleepwheeling, Darington managed to get through all of those just fine. Blaze and AJ were getting a little tired from all of this chasing around and almost crashed a few times here and there.
"That was way too close," said Blaze.
Darington managed to win the race in his sleep.
"And Darington wins!" said the referee.
"Wow. That guy did it in his sleep," one of the fanboy trucks said impressed.
"Awesome, to say the least," his buddy stated.

Just then, Darington was about to come into an intersection and reach an open manhole at the center.
"He's not gonna be able to see the light!" said Blaze.
Just then, Stripes raced in and covered up the manhole so Darington wouldn't fall in.
"Just in time," he said.
"Thanks, Stripes," AJ thanked.
"Don't thank me right now. Darington's about to drive through the park's pond," said Stripes.
"Oh, come on!" AJ lashed.
This wasn't usually like him to do that.
"We can still stop him," said Stripes.
Darington was about to go right into the pond in the park.
"He'll get waterlogged if we don't stop him," said Blaze.
"What about that log over there?" Stripes pointed out.
"That should help," said AJ.
They pushed a log right onto the pond and Darington got right onto it and sailed right across the pond and out of the park.
"Close one," said Stripes.
Blaze and AJ were really getting tired. Both from lack of sleep and having to keep Darington out of harm's way all night.
"We...gotta...catch him..." AJ yawned.
"Can't...let him...hurt...himself..." Blaze yawned.
"You sure you guys wanna keep trying? You look exhausted," Gabby wondered concerned.
They were indeed exhausted, but AJ thought,
"We look awesome."
"You should really get some sleep," said Pickle.
"We'll worry about that after we get Darington back to the party," said Blaze.
"Uh...Blaze? You might wanna look," said Crusher.
Blaze saw that Darington was going across on a construction site.
"Oh no! Darington's sleepwheeling on a construction site!" he pointed out.
"A construction site is the most dangerous place for anyone to sleepwheel, or sleepwalk, on," said Gabby.
"Not to mention the most cliche place," Pickle pointed out a little savvy there.

Darington was getting ready for the most dangerous stunt of all in his sleep.
"Wait a minute. Doesn't something about this seem familiar?" Crusher asked.
"It's just like in the movie!" said Pickle.
"So...Darington is sleepwheeling...and performing the stunts in the movie at the same time!" said AJ.
Blaze chuckled and thought,
"I guess he really is doing those stunts in his sleep," said Blaze.
"Come on. I know what will..." AJ yawned. But he was too exhausted to come up with something to turn Blaze into and collapsed from exhausted.
"Come on, AJ. What is it? What can we turn me into to save Darington?" Blaze asked. He yawned and felt too sleepy to try.
"Oh no. They're too tired to keep going," said Gabby.
"Well, Crusher, I guess it's up to us now," said Pickle.
"Us? Being the heroes for once? I don't know. It goes against my cheat code," said Crusher.
"Crusher, Darington needs us!" Pickle told him.
"Oh, alright. Gabby, do you still have the kazoo form the board game?" Crusher asked.
"Of course!" said Gabby.
She took out the kazoo and blew right into it. The toot from it was loud enough to wake Darington up right before he went off the last girder.
"Huh? What? Where am I? This isn't the slumber party," he analyzed from his waking up. He then saw he was up high on a skyscraper and was about to fall over.
"SOMEONE! GET ME DOWN!" he shouted. "BLAZE! AJ!"
"They can't help you, Darington! They were busy keeping you safe while you were sleepwheeling!" said Gabby.
"I was sleepwheeling?" Darington asked.
"Yeah! And you were doing all of the stunts in your sleep!" said Pickle.
"Now, you're on the most dangerous one of them all!" said Gabby.
"But there isn't anything safe for me to land on!" Darington pointed out.
"Don't worry. I think I know what I can help with that. I was saving this for a cheat on Blaze, but now's as good a time as any to use it," said Crusher. He got something out of his cheat pouch and created something that was sure to save Darington.
"It's a Sticky Taffy Net. It should be able to get Darington down nice and safe," said Crusher.
"Go ahead, Darington! Jump!" Pickle called out.
"Okay...here I go..." said Darington. He took the plunge and shouted, "DARINGTOOOOOOOOOON!~"
And that moment, he landed right on the Sticky Taffy Net.
"It worked! Crusher! You saved Darington!" Gabby cheered.
"Whoa...for once, I saved the day! You hear that, Blaze? I actually saved the day!" said Crusher.
"That was great, Crusher! You're really good at this!" said Pickle.
"I never thought I'd say this, but...thanks, Crusher," Darington thanked.
"No problem," said Crusher. "Just don't expect me to make a habit out of this," Crusher told him.
The other Monster Machines heard about this.
"Did we miss anything?" Blaze asked.

Everyone headed on back to the slumber party where they were still talking a bit about what happened with Darington and his sleepwheeling problem.
"I think I got all of the sleepwheeling out of my system now," said Darington.
"You sure were more jumpy than a kangaroo on a trampoline," said Starla.
"That was more wild than the animals in my jungle," said Stripes.
"Darington crazy, but cool!" said Zeg.
"And to think, Crusher actually managed to help for once," said Gabby.
"Usually he's a troublemaker, but with Blaze and AJ out of commission, I guess anyone was willing to help," said Darington.
"I was just doing what had to be done. Nothing special," said Crusher.
"You're a hero, Crusher. Isn't that great?" Pickle asked.
"Yeah, I guess it is. For once, I was the hero," said Crusher. "What do you think of that, Blaze?"
"That's great, Crusher..." said Blaze.
"Congratulations," said AJ.
"You did good..." Blaze added.
Just then, he and AJ simply collapsed from exhaustion again and started snoring.
"Blaze? AJ? You okay? I saved the day. You need any saving yourselves? Yoo-hoo! Guys!" said Crusher. They were sound asleep from that.
"You'd think they'd be awake for this moment, right?" Crusher asked.
For once, Crusher was the hero of this, but it wasn't gonna be much of an often occurrence. Everyone was tired from all of this and just decided to sleep the rest of the night, thus ending Blaze and AJ's slumber party.

THE END