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Takumi yawned desperately, rolling out of bed and stumbling downstairs step by step, his mind unwilling to completely wake up. The smooth burble from outside announced the Impreza's presence, marking yet another delivery without the hachi-roku.
“I thought the Trueno was my car,” he grumbled as he flopped into the Impreza's seat.
“It was, and then it was destroyed and I rebuilt it with my money. When you work off your debt to me, you can have it back for good, but right now it's mine again. You should be happy I let you race with it, and the Impreza. Ungrateful child,” Bunta added, loading up the tofu and shutting the trunk. Takumi rolled his eyes, yawned again, and then shook his head to wake up. Taking the cup of water from his father, he put the Impreza in gear and took off.

Bunta watched him go and smiled. The wear on the Impreza's tires was showing the beginning of a new driving style for Takumi, one that would treat him well. He was accepting the all wheel drive and quickly reaching a masterful level. The hachi-roku sat nearby, under a new cover, its tires just barely peeking out. Putting out his cigarette, he whisked the cover off the Trueno and climbed inside, starting up the engine with a devilish smile. He was going hunting.

Takumi had finished his delivery and was headed downhill, puttering along for the moment and idly daydreaming. Ryosuke and Keisuke had been unavailable for quite some time, and the last he had seen of Keisuke was the younger Takahashi screaming sideways through a corner in a diminutive red car of some sort on one of Akagi's tighter corners. Shaking his head, he noticed a set of yellowed headlights in the mirror rapidly growing larger.
“Fast,” he said to himself, noticing with a sickening feeling that the headlights were achingly familiar, framing a black carbon fiber hood and a glistening clean windshield.
“Shitty old man,” he grumbled, downshifting and flooring the Impreza, diving ahead and grinning to himself as the turbo spooled up, the engine's massive power shoving him deeply into his seat. The 86's headlights shrank quickly, but to his shock, they began to grow again.

The two cars dove into the corner, equal at the entrance, but when the apex came, the two drivetrains made their unique differences known. Takumi in the Impreza felt the powerful car forging ahead, its front wheels gripping and pulling the coupe through. With a shock, he saw the AE86 drifting on the outside, dead even with him and overtaking at the end of the curve. Down the straightaway the Impreza leapt ahead as its massive torque surged through the powertrain, but the AE86 caught up at the end of the straight and once again overtook in the middle of the turn. Down the mountain the two fought, the Impreza passing the 86 over and over again in the first few seconds of any straight, but being overtaken by the end of any corner. Through the five hairpins the two cars dove for the gutters, the hachi-roku popping out of the last hairpin with particular violence before rocketing off, establishing a lead that it kept for the rest of Mt. Akina's downhill, no matter how hard Takumi pushed the Impreza.

“What's wrong with the Impreza?” Bunta asked outside the tofu shop, an eyebrow arched in concern.
“Nothing's wrong with it. You just drive like an idiot,” Takumi replied, reaching out to touch the hood of his car. Bunta arched his eyebrow again and Takumi withdrew his hand.
“When can I drive my car again?” he begged.
“Not right now. You haven't paid off your debt to me,” Bunta replied, turning on his heel and walking into the shop. Takumi sighed and followed him inside, dejected and beaten.


*

Keisuke screamed through another corner, the pathetic tires rolling over on themselves and giving the car a sudden wild fit of understeer at the worst moment possible. The Starlet shuddered along, its tires making horrific scrubbing noises as it slid off the road and into a ditch, coming to a sudden stop with a gentle bump against the guardrail. Keisuke let go of the thin steering wheel and sat back in the complaining seat with its tattered cover and thought.
“If I hadn't pushed so damn hard into the corner and had gotten on the brakes sooner, I could have made that turn,” he said. His mind visualized it well enough. The car had been at an angle, but the tread of the tires were still going straight, with the sidewall twisting to compensate between the two. When the car had attained too great of an angle for the sidewall to flex, the tire had snapped back into shape, spiking the load on the suspension and sending the car out of control. It was fun.

“Once more,” he said, starting up the 1.0 liter engine with a grin. Going up Mt. Akagi was pure torture, but coming back down was fun to the point of hilarity as he tried to make the little car drift along, using every skill he possessed to coax the last ounce of performance out of the tired little Toyota.
“Fujiwara is a lucky one,” he said as he nailed the apex of the next turn, the front wheels lightening slightly as he used weight shifting to get the car to turn faster. Sawing the wheel side to side to try and regain grip he continued to slide, the old tires, though perfectly balanced, lacking any semblance of tread or traction. This time a spin was imminent, but through quick use of all three pedals and a judicious application of the emergency brake, the car remained barely under control. Keisuke pumped his fist out the window as he streaked past an open-mouthed Kenta who was driving his own S14 downhill.

“If it's a battle you want,” Kenta said grimly, “it's a battle you'll get!” He downshifted immediately, spinning up his SR20 and taking off after the rapidly disappearing Starlet. The two cars hurtled downhill, the S14 easily catching up to the Starlet as the two flew down a long straight, but a series of moderate s-curves were approaching and Kenta watched in shock as the Starlet three-legged its way through the first two, its body rolling so far that it pulled the inside rear wheel up off the ground, losing speed as its open differential sent power to the lifted wheel. The Starlet slammed back down and lurched off into the next corner, Keisuke grinning like mad as the S14 began to fall behind. Kenta shook his head and pushed harder.
“In the FD you are my superior, but in that car I would be dishonored if I couldn't pass you,” Kenta said, forcing himself to drive faster.

The two cars kept at it, the S14's massive horsepower advantage beginning to take its toll. Coming into a tight right hander, Keisuke entered far too hot, spinning the car violently, hitting the rail with his front left fender in mid-spin, using the impact to send him pointing back toward the downhill. Kenta watched as his mentor's car spun, checked itself against the rail, pointed itself downhill and kept going as if nothing had happened.
“Like a dog cocking its leg to pee,” he said, watching the Starlet lift an inside rear tire again as he finally forced his way past. Looking over at his mentor, Kenta was surprised to see Keisuke's face set in a demonic grin.

“What the hell are you playing at?” Kenta shouted from his open window.
“I'm playing,” Keisuke roared back. “Catch me if you can!” he added, squirting forward with minimal violence from the 1000cc motor. Kenta followed him down Mt. Akagi and stopped at the base, getting out of his car and looking at the clean but diminutive little Toyota.
“Where did you dig this up?” he asked with curiosity in his voice.
“Fumihiro found it,” Keisuke replied. “I needed a car while the FD is being repaired, and even though this wasn't my first choice, it's definitely grown on me. I think I'll keep it after the FD is fixed,” he added, hopping back in the little Toyota that rocked and squeaked with his weight.
“How much longer until your FD is fixed?” Kenta asked hopefully.
“Well, I need to set aside some time to help them tune it. Ryosuke's new rule, I have to learn how to help tune the engine. Truth be told I'm having too much fun with this car to bother with it right now,” Keisuke added before driving off. Kenta shook his head, feeling a headache coming on.

“This is bad. The Takahashi Brothers of the Rotary Engine aren't driving rotaries. Ryosuke has no car, and Keisuke is obsessed with a shitty Toyota. I need help,” Kenta admitted, getting back into the S14 and driving up Mt. Akagi in pursuit of his mentor.

lol, another great chapter. 2 races takumi still has some ways to go b4 beating bunta and a starlet beats a s14.

best part

i am seriously enjoying this fanfic, and keisuke's cheating on rotaries is funny as hell.

This post has been edited by 207 on Nov 3 2007, 06:37 PM

Dude! Too fast! Much too fast! I haven't even read your other gazillion fics yet!

Just skimmed some, and I just wanna comment that "aniki" means "older brother". So what Ryousuke would call Keisuke would be "otouto" (younger brother).

But just keep the chapters churning! You're doing a good job!

This post has been edited by tiQlado on Nov 3 2007, 07:24 PM

Looks like another great start to another great fanfic that will soon be confused with official fifth stage material!

I'm almost feeling sorry for that poor little KP60, it's taking violent beating from Keisuke all day long. I think that Keisuke is more sadistic than I guessed.. lol

I'm beginning to think Keisuke is the actual insane one and not Takumi.

Please update soon.

Keisuke? Insane? No, he has seen the light and abandoned that puny Rotary of his!

I mean his new driving style.

blasphemy, he'll never give up rotaries until the day he dies. it is his prefered car for battles, unless he goes psycho and goes with kp60 for project d battles .

It'd be insane fun to see Keisuke using the KP60 for PD battles xD!!!
two of those underpowered Toyota's ripping up the mountains of Japan! ROAR!

i dont see such a low horsepower car ever doing project d races, its slower than stock 86.

wow cool story man... cant wait for the next chapters

207: yeah, but it'd be fun to see him kick ass on the downhill though xD

i remember the 13B-REW being removed from Ryosuke's new FD to have it replaced with a 20B... and now a Starlet for Keisuke... geez... what if that same 13B ws placed into the Starlet? Is Keisuke getting interested with racing downhill? Something like to beat Takumi? Or is he going to drive two cars for uphill, selecting one from which depending on the course they will be racing? well! a lightweight Starlet with tremendous power will be good!!! Nah!

Anyway... keep it coming!!!

come on new chapter new chapter!!!

Maybe Takumi could drive a Gremlin to make it even with Keisuki's Starlet lol. More chapters please! This is good stuff!

poor takumi, cant catch a break, lol keep up the good work.

if you dont mind once i read these some more and figure out a few things id like to try and illustrate some scenes in a comic strip style.

https://idforums.net/index.php?showtopic=30240

^ my previous work so you know what to expect.

Okay, first off sorry for the long time without updates, had to finish an essay for my psych class. Sucks. Short update today, but trust me, I'm working on more. Tomorrow night and Saturday will be big updates for me unless something disastrous happens.

Rayn, dude, your art is freaking incredible and I would be HONORED if you chose to bend your pen (or mouse? stylus?) to this material.

*************************

A long two months had passed, and with them many strange sights and sounds. The Starlet became a regular appearance on Akagi, its downhill speed increasing with every descent while its uphill climbs still pushed Keisuke's patience to the breaking point. The Grim Reaper swung his scythe, claiming the unfortunate souls that crossed his path. In his room, Ryosuke flexed his arm gently, rotating it through its full range of movement, wincing as it popped a few times, the joint slowly regaining its flexibility.
“It isn't fully healed,” he said, looking at the pale and atrophied arm, “but the bone has knit.” With a sigh he picked up his new set of keys, looking at them intently. The key to the Spirit R was both appealing to him and disgusting, lust and loathing combined.

“I don't know how I feel about this,” he said minutes later, standing next to the potent machine. “On the one hand I know that I need the abilities of this car in order to have any success against Yoshiro, especially with my arm like this. But I miss my FC. I miss the challenge. This car the challenge isn't to go fast, but to go slow. To control it when it calls out for ultimate release. Using the full throttle of this car on the downhill, any downhill, would be suicidal. I've already broken one bone, I don't feel like breaking more.” Ryosuke shook his head and climbed stiffly into the car. Slowly, carefully, he put the key in the ignition with his weak arm, biting his lip at the pain of fine control over his unwieldy limb, finally turning the key..

Electricity coursed from the battery through the necessary wiring to the starter, energizing the motor that spun the flywheel of the potent 20B-REW. The lightened rotors spun three times as the ECU injected fuel and fired the spark plugs until the combustion cycle began. With an uneasy high idle the engine warmed up before settling down to a stable 900 RPMs, the result of masterful and extraordinarily precise tuning. Ryosuke leaned back in the bucket seat and fastened his harness, noting with a grim smile the airbag in front of him. No more bashing his head on the windshield. Adjusting the rear view mirror he caught sight of the cage Fumihiro and Matsumoto had spent so much time installing, strengthening the already-stiff body of the FD. Ryosuke glanced around him at the plentiful carbon fiber and the evidence of the rampant weight reduction that had been undertaken at his request and he smiled.

Manipulating the short shifter into gear, he feathered the throttle and clutch and backed the Spirit R out of his parents driveway and out onto the public roads. The car's potent engine accelerated the FD violently even at half-throttle, inducing a state of incredible pleasure in Ryosuke's mind.
“My body might be weak, but my Spirit is strong,” he said with a smile.

HELL YEAH...all though not much info...

and as far as the illustrations go....GOD YES!! GO FOR IT!! try and do a few key moments from the past battles...the AW11 and the new Spirit R...

and the R32 and rest of the COOL stuff. lol

no, it'd be an honor for me to do artwork for your fantastic writing. if you have AIM talk to me there or PM me for some specifics id like so i can start putting a few things together.

to think this fanfic couldn't get any better....

Looking forward to the next update.

And if Rayn illustrates some of the scenes in this fic. All the better.

I'm gonna need alot of paper, printer ink, and a stapler if Rayn starts illustrating thx's fanfics

Even though it was short, that last chapter got me thinking, whats Ryousuke gonna do with the FD, he backed it out the driveway and started driving off... he's not gonna go fast in it is he? He's still not healed!

it would be humorous if Keisuke would beat Ryosuke with the Starlet..