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Teasers are worse than cliffhangers.

Anyway, this fic is still awesome.

hehe, thanks.. I'm truly grateful that there's some readers with good patience..

I agree with both remarks. Also, Fin-Toy, we are VEEERYYYY patient readers...also because your story is so good that we don't mind waiting for it, do we?


PS: Me, the mistress of cliffhangers

This post has been edited by Sanae on Mar 29 2007, 05:26 AM

Tomorrow is The D-Day.. speed, more speed, cars, girls, possible accidents, revealing past things..

okay, told enough. muhaha, burn in your anxiety!

And here it is!!!

Chapter 9: Troublesome Triplet returns!


Up at the pylons parking lot, crowd was getting nervous. The contestants were ready to line up on the starting line, but no-one was talking of them at the moment. Everyone was listening carefully, hoping to catch the first hints of Midnight Dragons even more fierce brother. Akane had announced that Ryuu was coming up there with his new, Wangan-spec KP60, and that was something unusual. Of course it would be in low boost mode, but still, over 600bhp was respectable amount of power.

In the distance, down on the roots of the mountains, Ryuu smiled as he raised his speed, letting the rotary engine do what it did best: Rev higher and higher, until it sounded like divebomber from second world war. Tires squealed as they did their best to deliver the power to the road despite clever ATTESA-ETS Pro AWD system. The sound was easily heard at the top of the mountain.

“Oh my god.. It's him, he's coming!” Someone yelled, and small murmur spread among the crowd as the devilish howl grew louder, accompanied by screeching of tires. “We can't see the lights yet, and still it's that loud already? It sounds more like JGTC-machine than usual car..” The voice grew in strength until the red/black devil of a car emerged from the darkness, blinding the crowd with it's headlights and silencing them with it's fierce, shrieking exhaust note. Ryuu stopped the car, blipping the throttle few times until the crowd realized that he wanted to park his car.

Akane ran to the car, opening the door and hugging Ryuu as soon as he got out of the car. “Look what you have done now, you stole our crowd.. Show-off..” Ryuu laughed and shook his head. “So it seems.. But I guess they'll forget it as soon as the race starts.”
He locked the doors. “You may watch but not touch. And if there's questions, I'll answer after these beauties have raced, allright?” Crowd murmured slightly and they returned to the starting area, where Cheetah Brothers and Akane's sisters were waiting.

“Yuuka, Nori, good to see you two.” Ryuu shaked hands with both of them. Nori kept shooting nervous glances at Ryuu's car. “He won't bite you unless you insult him.” Ryuu smirked, and Nori blushed. “Sorry, didn't mean to.. It's just so.. menacing.. I thought that the original one was scary, but this..” Nori shivered.
“It is a bit of a beast even now. I can't relax for a second when I drive it or it'll bite my head of..f or worse. But, it's not what we're here for.” Ryuu said, looking at Akane and her sisters, winking at them. Akane sat into her pure white widebody-kitted NSX, and her sisters did the same in their S2000's. The Cheetah Brothers followed their example, sitting into their cars and starting the engines. Crowd moved away from the starting area, except few reporters from WTCR, who were snapping shots from the cars.

For a change it was Ryuu, who did the countdown. When he reached the end of the count, 5 cars blasted past him, disappearing to the night. Ryuu could only hope that there wouldn't be crashes this time. The road was wide, but not that wide, and 3 cars racing each others was already pushing ones luck. But now there was five cars, going all out, and both sides had a lot to lose.

Akane grinned widely as she went through gears swiftly, accelerating hard to keep up with the Cheetah Brothers. As a mid-engined car, her NSX had better traction off the line than her sisters or Cheetah Brothers. Thanks to the eagerly revving normally aspirated V6, her acceleration matched those single-turbo FD's acceleration well, especially at higher revs. She noticed that her sisters had been left slightly behind.
“Come on, sisters, press the pedal to the medal! As soon as the straights start, we'll pass these boys by using X-2-3-1, got that?” Both sisters answered positively, and their S2000 started to shorten the gap.

~back at the starting line~

“So, Emi and Hotaru promised to give their numbers to Nori and Yuuka in case that they would lose..? I see..” Ryuu laughed. Those girls would never change. “That's how they distracted my thoughts from the race as well. It was a close call, but I managed to turn the situation upside down before the second run. And the rest was pure luck”, Ryuu explained to someone. He listened the weakening sounds of the cars that were tearing through the night. “Drive as fast as you can, Akane. I know you can beat them just like I did..” Ryuu whispered in his mind.

Akane had let her sisters to pass herself, giving them a chance to execute the tactic she had created. As soon as straight opened in front of them, She barked an order, and both S2000's formed a line, taking the left side of the road. Nori instinctively took that side as well, and on that instant, Hotaru's S2000 passed Emi's car and managed to push it's nose next to Nori's RX-7. Hotaru grinned triumphantly at Nori, who was astonished. “Where did she come from? I could had sworn that she was behind me!”
“Well done, Hotaru! Now, your turn, Emi!” Youngest of the triplet made room for Akane's NSX, which glued it's nose to Nori's rear bumper. Emi dropped behind the NSX, ready for quick attack as soon as the next straight would open up. At the vacuum of JGTC-kitted car she could easily keep up with the faster cars, and then sling her car past their opponents. “Piece of cake, sisters. Let's aim for 1-X-3-X-5 situation. That should guarantee victory for us!”

Ryuu listened the radio reports, slightly surprised from this simple yet aggressive tactic that Three Katanas were using. Then it hit him. “If I wouldn't had kept my distance to them, they would had beaten me with this tactic..!”, He thought. He started to respect this troublesome triplet much more.

This time, Nori was ready for the attack. Akane switched lanes multiple times, Emi following in her wake. Nori blocked every attempt, until he stayed bit too long on the right lane. Emi had already started to pass the NSX when he noticed his mistake. It was too late to fix the error, as the S2000 crept next to Nori's FD. “That's it.. The NSX creates strong vacuum, and they used it to drafting and gaining speed for the straight, so they could sling themselves past me.. but.. that's more like Wangan-technique!” Nori thought as Emi slowly yet certainly passed him. “Brother.. please, I hope that you realize this too!”

Yuuka had no clue what had happened behind him. All he knew was that somehow one of the S2000's had slipped past his brother, and was now copying his lines accurately.
“I will not be beaten by a girl!” He growled as he accelerated out of the corner. He noticed that the S2000 tried to pass him from the left, and he blocked the attempt instantly. And within a second of that flawlessly executed trick, his heart skipped few beats as he heard the demonic shriek of highly tuned naturally aspirated engine right next to him. He could only watch helplessly as Emi's S2000 passed him, gaining the lead position just as Akane had planned. “What the hell is going on in here, Nori? They can't be faster than us when exiting the corner!” He thought fiercely, pounding the steering wheel with his fist as they passed the goal.

~Later, back on the top of the mountain~

“These kids are good. Even those girls are both pretty AND competitive.. I wouldn't mind racing against them in the future.” Ken, number three of this mountain pass said to Ichiro and Katsuro, who were fastest and second fastest, followed by Ken. Their cars had been parked further, and very few people had noticed their arrival.
“I'm not worried of the girls, Ken. Look at that kid who arrived in that KP60.. Or, don't just look, but FEEL his aura. He's.. Scaring me.” Ichiro murmured, his cold, lifeless eyes locked on Ryuu. “He has been trained by The Surgeon, which means that he has huge potential once he sits in that car, or any car that has any potential to go fast in right hands.”
Ken looked at Ichiro, frowning. “Are you saying that that brat is freaking you out, is that it?” Short, fat man looked at the former professional with disbelief. “He drives mere KP60. It's Touge-specifications point out that it's not match to my Gremlin, not to mention your Exige. Even Katsuro's X90 could beat it.”

“You just don't understand, do you, Ken? You don't need to overpower your competition when you want to be the fastest.” Ichiro said, smirking at Ken who put power and torque above everything else. “That's why you're fast only on straights.. and lose in corners.”
Ken snorted. “Bah! Corners solve races only when the cars are underpowered!” Both Katsuro and Ichiro chuckled at Ken's statement. “Ken, you should live in America. You'd be happy there.”
Ken grunted and straightened his back, looking over the crowd. “At least roads are straight and cars powerful there..”

Ichiro managed to hold back his sarcastic remark about fast food restaurants, which were Ken's biggest weakness. He watched closely as the second run started, keeping his eye on the young driver of Midnight Dragon. “Ryuu Masaru .. You're coming after us, aren't you? We're ready for you anytime..” Former professional mumbled, as he looked at Ryuu and his car. “This is going to be interesting..”

In the cockpit of the NSX, Akane was sweating and grunting as she fought with Nori's RX-7 for the third position. Nori and Yuuka knew their strategy now, and kept their lines as tight and sharp as possible. In one of the mid-section straights she saw that Emi had already passed Yuuka, whose passing attempt had been blocked almost rudely by Hotaru. Emi had used the chance and her car had squeezed itself between the wall and RX-7, that had been forced to slow down or crash thru the rail.
“Isn't your strategy working anymore, huh, Akane? I bet you're sweating that nice blouse of yours wet at the moment..” Nori grinned, blocking yet another attempt by Akane.
“You bastard.. I'm faster than you, so..” They arrived at corner, and Akane steered to the outer line , as if she'd try to pass Nori from the outside. Nori blocked the attempt instinctively, falling into Akane's trap.
"..GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" She yelled, flooring the throttle and using the excellent grip of her car to slip between Nori and the wall, out-accelerating him with ease.

Nori could only swear fiercely as the NSX went after his brother like white, roaring missile of destruction. Yuuka, on the other hand, saw this happening and grunted, as he was having hard time with the two S2000's in front of him. They were so close to each other that he couldn't pass. It didn't take too long before Akane's white, widebody-kitted NSX was breathing into his neck.

“Sisters, time for 'tired smiley' in the next corner and this race will be ours!” Emi and Hotaru grinned. Yuuka kept his front bumper glued to the S2000's rear bumper, and suddenly, second of the S2000's dropped half car lengths back, effectively nailing him there, as Akane accelerated, flashing her lights that she was ready to pass the RX-7 completely. As These four cars exited the corner, Emi braked, forcing Yuuka to slow down as well, thus sealing the fate of this race.

~Back at the top of the mountain~

“What the hell did you think you were doing back there, you crazy chick?! Blocking and braking right in front of me and on the side of my car, just so your sister could pass?!” Yuuka yelled at the girls as they got out of their cars.
“Tut tut, mister. Let's not lose our cool just because you haven't seen teamwork before.” Akane grinned and winked at the furious Cheetah Brothers. “It was fair and square, sweetie, so start paying up before you lose more than just money.” Yuuka gritted his teeths, as he picked the bank note from his pocket, giving it to Akane before stomping his way back to his car.

“You know, Yuuka.. If I hadn't kept my distance back then like I did, I would had fallen for that tactic as well..” Ryuu said to the beaten RX-7 driver. “They're women. Ruthless, evil, twisted and cunning.. and they have absolutely no doubt that they couldn't do what we can.. so.. don't take it personally.”
Yuuka sighed, relaxing a bit. “Thanks, I guess.. I think that it would have happened just like that in real professional racing as well.. They're amazing.” After that, Cheetah brothers left the scene.

“Indeed that was circuit racer technique.. Bit raw and bluntly executed, but effective at these circumstances.” Ichiro murmured. He had enjoyed of the great show, and he had also seen female racers before. He also knew that they were most fierce competitors when they got a chance.
“I shall not underestimate them at all.. If Ryuu teams up with them, they'll be great, shining comets among usual twinkling stars..” Ichiro, bit his lip, then returned to his car. Bright yellow Lotus Motorsport Elise, often referred as first gen Exige waited for him, and came alive suddenly after he had sit inside. Soon, this lightweight, mid-engined road going racing machine blasted down the hill, surprising and frightening the hell out of few other racers that were returning to their homes.

~Next morning~

After celebrating the victorious return of The Three Katana's, Ryuu waked up with slight headache as Akira called him, asking him to help with his car. Ryuu said that he wanted to take a shower and have coffee with some painkillers before moving an inch, and finally, they agreed that Ryuu would be in the Hideaki's garage around ten.

~few hours later~

Akira slammed the hood down, sighing and swept some sweat from his face, smearing it with oil. He groaned, stretching a bit before he looked at Ryuu, nodding. “Start her up, Ryuu. Let's see if this old lady has accepted these modifications.”
Ryuu turned the key, and after short hesitation, Levin's engine awakened into new life. Akira's grin was splitting his face when he heard the new voice of his beloved car, and it only got wider when Ryuu blipped the throttle. Deep, throaty snarl was the result of independent throttle bodies and new exhaust system, accompanied with new camshafts and pulleys that they had installed earlier this morning.

“YAY! We did it! She's singing to me again!” Ryuu laughed at his friend's enthusiasm, and even Katashi smiled, proud of his sons achievement. He had done these modifications completely himself. Of course, the engine wasn't the only thing that was upgraded. Steering rack had been altered too for quicker response, and suspension had been built from best possible parts.
“Well done, kids. I guess you two want to go for shakedown run, eh?” Akira nodded, as Ryuu shut down the engine, getting out of the car. “I think we should get some food first, I haven't eaten since morning.”
Akira glanced at the clock, realizing that it was afternoon already, and suddenly his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten that much either.

In the kitchen they bumped into Kohaku, who had a day off from the magazine. “oh, I actually wanted to see you. I found quite a bit info about your future opponents.” Kohaku explained what he had found from the archives, and even Katashi looked bit baffled as he heard about the opponents cars. “Old V8-powered subcompact from US and small K-class sports car? Either they're truly skilled or then they're nuts.”
“I'm willing to bet for both options.. since I recognize that Lotus and it's driver. They were at the Pylon last night. I wondered why they were staring at me and my car.”

“Really? They've kept low profile until recently. Though, they've probably noticed your sudden attack through the teams, so they probably just checked you out. If Ichiro was there, then other two were there as well. Together they're the top 3 of that pass.” Kohaku said to Ryuu, who nodded. He remembered seeing two other guys standing next to the first one. He had also spotted the cars.
“I can't take this lightly. We have to find out a way to improve the performance and traction. It will most likely swallow the rest of the money I have left from the wins but I don't care.”

Akira sighed. So much about the time he had planned to spend with his own car. Ryuu noticed his friends expression and laughed. “No worries, I'll wait them to challenge me, I'm not going to attack them.”
Kohaku stared at Ryuu, then asked carefully: “Isn't that bit arrogant? you're the one who is supposed to challenge them, not other way round..”
Ryuu nodded. “That's the plan. They'd think I'm just an arrogant brat and take me lightly, which would make things easy for me. And that crazy wangan machine.. Well, I have to see what I could do about it in the future. I have a gnawing suspicion that his car will not be as fast as it might look like.” Ryuu explained.
“And last night, I heard something rather nasty from the gearbox of the beast. I think it'll give in soon, so I'll see if I can scoop up enough money for a new, bit stronger gearbox.”

Katashi smiled. “You're growing up quickly, Ryuu. Playing mind games like that is risky, but it also brings some fun factor and excitement into the game. What kind of gearbox were you planning to get, if the current one blows up?” Katashi asked innocently.
Ryuu looked bit uncertain. He wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal that one yet, nor the fact that he wasn't as broke as he seemed. “Uhm.. I was thinking something endurance-level stuff, that can take the abuse. Perhaps something second-hand or such.” He said carefully.

“Oh really..? What about that seven-speed pneumatic gearbox that you ordered last night from Getrac?” Katashi asked, smirking as he saw quick shock flashing on Ryuu's face. Kohaku and Akira stared at their friend, who just scratched his neck, blushing a bit. “Oh, that one.. yeah.. right.. well, let's just say that I have my small contacts to the automotive industry as well..” He looked everyone apologetically. Akira nodded, since many things had become more clear now. At that point anyone else would have been happy, but not Katashi. “Well, if you won't say it, then I will.. Why did you keep it as a secret, that you're the son of late owner of MAA, or Masaru Automotive Accessories, that has been hanging in the top ten list of Japanese industry for longer than 7 years?”

Ryuu twitched, taking a step backwards. That was a thing that he didn't want to speak of, not now. He sighed, considering a bluff, then giving up. “Because I have nothing to do with that company. True, I have the ownership of my fathers company, but that is all. I don't go to the meetings or such, since I have no clue what they do there. I get 'some' money monthly, and uncle of mine keeps eye on things.”
Katashi nodded, grunting approvingly. “I guess you have your reasons not to speak about it until now. I had my suspicions since you began to gather parts for the car. You seemed to find them easily and have afford to them as well. I'll let this be for now, but rest assured that I'll use it as leverage sooner or later.”
Ryuu muttered something about old people who don't know how to keep their noses out of someone elses privacy. Katashi just chuckled. “If and WHEN you become a professional, 'privacy' has no meaning any longer. Better get used to that thought now than never.”

Ryuu sighed. “I guess you're right. Sorry about that. I just wanted to be an ordinary guy.”
Kohaku snorted out loud. “What kind of ordinary guy owns TWO KP60's that can compete on mountains and highways? If you consider yourself ordinary, then you're first ordinary guy I've ever seen!”
Everyone started to laugh, even Ryuu. “Heh, thanks Koku. Now, what was I planning before this mean old fart put me through third grade interrogation?”

They concentrated on the meal again, discussing about this and that, and soon the athmosphere was just as calm and friendly as it had been before. But elsewhere, things weren't so calm.

On the mountain pass that did lead to the pylon, new kind of beast shred it's way through corners and straights at scary pace.
If someone had seen that car, he could had recognized it as SW20 MR2, but the soundtrack gave out the biggest modification: The engine was twice as big as the regular one, and had twice the cylinders.. and almost twice the power. And behind the wheel was a familiar face, that was frowned from concentration as he did his best to keep his new machine under control.
“This time I have more suitable machine for this mountain pass, Midnight Dragon.. Soon I'll defeat you and toss your junkpile down from the cliff! You shall regret the day when you passed me and wrecked my car!”

Pink had returned, and he was more dangerous than before.

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Apr 1 2007, 11:32 AM

Great racing scene with the girls (I love Akane!). Ryuu's getting a whole lot more confident and I like that too. Pink's last words: very worrying indeed...I do hope you don't have sadistic instincts when it comes to your characters (like someone I know *points at self* )

Anyway, great chapter as usual it was definitely worth the wait!

This post has been edited by Sanae on Apr 1 2007, 12:36 PM

sadistic intentions? me? it's up on the FF.net as well.

we shall see what comes up. but I can promise that in the future, few cars will have slight.. ehh.. damage.. maybe dents and scrapes here and there.. no worries, the character will survive in one piece, more or less.

Fin-Toy, is that supposed to make us feel better???? Because it simply doesn't...*goes to sleep with horrific images of a certain KP60 going down the cliff* AAARRRGHHH!

Again, if said car is Pink's...well...

you're evil, you know.. we shall see what happens..

and what would be more cool way to die than go backwards through the pearly gates in a burning streetracing car..?

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Apr 1 2007, 01:34 PM

Cooler way to die than that? That would be flying backwards through the pearly gates in a car at 322 km/h, have it explode in the air, and fall down to the ground and stop miles away from the gates.

Anyway, this chapter was worth the wait.

This post has been edited by Meteor on Apr 2 2007, 01:38 AM

and that must happen in a swedish supercar that uses flower-power!

okay, enough of topgearisms, and thanks for the comments.

Chapter 10: Enormous Eight, Mischievous Monk

Ryuu held himself steady on Akira's passenger seat, as his friend attacked yet another corner on the edge of the control. Tires howled as they did their best to defeat the forces that were trying to alter the direction of the car.
Akira kicked the clutch as Ryuu had instructed him to do, and the rear of the car broke free.
Akira countersteered, but it was bit too late, and he had to turn the wheel faster. Ryuu braced himself, and then they both became passengers as the old Levin spun wildly, stopping just inches away from the guardrail.

“You're still too slow with your countersteering, Akira. You should start it on that fraction of second when the clutch is up and traction in the rear is gone. You can feel it, right? Floating, slippery feeling, as if there's no tires in the rear at all, just some sort of force that keeps the rear in the air.”
Akira sighed. He had felt it alright, but the driving schools lessons were still nagging at him.
“Yeah, I did feel it, but the instincts tell me to press the clutch and drop off the throttle. I can't help it yet.”

Ryuu nodded. He had been through that as well, as he had been learning how to drive faster. Eventually he had grown past the things he had learned at the driving lessons.
“You need to unlearn what you have learned in the past. Let it go and take new knowledge in it's place.”
Akira laughed. “Gee, thanks a lot master Yoda. I feel a lot more confident now.” Ryuu grinned as Akira started the car again and began to drive down the road, laughing at Ryuu's poor Yoda-imitations.

~Meanwhile, in the industrial area of the city~

Katashi was walking past line of shiny new Nissans. They were rolling out from the production line and loaded into trains that would take them to the harbor. There was few guards around, and one was walking with Katashi and one of the development engineers in the Nissan's performance arm, Nismo.
Katashi looked around, admiring the efficient operations around him. Their path went past the normal car production lines to entirely another building, that was surrounded by guards and tight security measures.

“Welcome to the lair of reborn Godzilla, Mr. Hideaki.” The young engineer said, grinning as he saw Katashi's expression. There were dozens of new GT-R's in various states of assembly.
There were three assembly-lines this far, but Katashi could tell that there was room for more. The cars were already partially painted, waiting for the final touches. Katashi loved the sharp and aggressive looks of the car already.
“This way, please.” The engineer and the guard led him to another part of the building. Lights were off, and the guard stopped him in the middle of the floor, telling him to wait there. The engineer disappeared to the darkness ahead of them. Suddenly, bright lights ignited right in front of Katashi.
Before he had time to react, deep roar of a powerful engine shook him and the lights leaped towards him, stopping just inches away from his legs. The halls lights were turned on, and in front of him was such a menacing beast of a car that even Kuro Ken would had looked tame next to it. The engineer revved the car few more times, before leaving the car purring as he climbed out.

“What do you like? This is the testbed of ours, that we use to try out different kind of modifications.” Katashi managed to snap out of his trance, and started to walk around the car slowly. “Impressive.. is this going to be the next S- or Z-Tune?”
Katashi asked, looking at the subtle, yet beautiful touches that separated this particular car from the production line models.
“It's most likely going to be the Z-tune. The base models performance has been limited pretty heavily, but this prototype doesn't have any restrictions or ECU programs to hold it down. No traction or stability control either.”
Katashi grinned and grouched, looking under the wheel arches. “Hmm.. 6-pot rear brakes and 8 potters in front..? This car must be able to slow down from 230mph in less than ten seconds.”

The engineer smiled, nodding. “On Nardo it clocked 240mph and there was still few thousand revs to go. With warmed up tires it hit to 60 in 2.7 seconds, and 200 was reached within 17 seconds. If this car wouldn't have so much downforce to keep it on the ground, it would slip past Veyron in top speed, when using those last few thousand revs on seventh gear.”
Katashi nodded, then peeked inside the car. “Pretty spartan interior.. Carbon fiber here and there.. How much does this beauty weight?”
The engineer checked his papers. “1200kg wet, with all fluids and fuel. Oh, and the power is 1100bhp, and it's accompanied by over 1300nm of torque.” Katashi spun around, staring at the engineer. “You must be kidding.. even Le Mans-racers don't have that much power.”

The engineer smiled proudly. “This car has entirely different engine than the regular models. Pop the hood and you'll see.” Katashi did so, walking to the front of the car and lifted the light carbon fiber hood. He had seen the spy photos of the regular models engine bay, but this was different.

The engine was huge even though it was mounted low and very far behind, and it boasted two large turbochargers on both sides, with Nismo badges on the valve covers. “Ooohh.. Isn't this V8 from the Titan? And VTG's..”
The engineer nodded. “It's been stroked and bored to 6 liters,ports have been polished, block and rotating parts have been reinforced and balanced as well as possible, and rev limiter doesn't interfere before 9500rpms. Suspension is adjustable in every possible way, including dampers, rollbars etc..” He lifted his eyebrow. “Still interested of test drivers job?”
Katashi didn't answer. He just stood there and admired the beast.

~At Hideaki's residence~

Both of Ryuu's cars were sitting in the front of the carage, since they both needed some work to be done on them. They had became neighborhoods kids main attraction. They argued about the looks and performance, even had small brawls about these facts. But today, they watched from further away as some old buddhist monk came there.

The monk walked to the cars, looking both at them intently, before shivering a bit. Maybe there was a gust of wind that made him shiver.. or something else. The kids looked at the old monk curiously, as he bowed and seemed to start some sort of ritual.
The kids looked at each other, then to the old monk as he attached some sort of paper notes on the cars, mumbling prayers or maybe a spell. Suddenly the papers burst into flames and vanished, and the monk stood up, looking satisfied. The kids rubbed their eyes, not believing what they had seen.

A sudden gust of wind blew some leaves across the road, making the monks cape flutter slightly. The monk bowed once more before leaving the cars behind. His task here was done, where as Ryuu's task was just about to begin.
The monk chuckled slightly. He wished that he could witness the first meeting between Ryuu and his new friends. He knew that Ryuu would catch him sooner or later for this, but this had happened before with few other cars, such as the Devil Z and Berserker R.

To Be Continued...

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Apr 20 2007, 08:46 AM

Woah. Never expected that in the plot. Adds to the awesomeness of the fic.

But you did make a few errors. But they're nothing too bad. Just a few grammatical errors that you can fix easily.

This post has been edited by Meteor on Apr 17 2007, 01:22 AM

Care to point out which ones? for some reason the spellchecking didn't work when I was writing that one.

That's because they're grammatical errors (stuff like a missing apostrophe, or forgetting to put the word "the", or an "a", or a space after a comma, etc.). Not spelling errors.

I've bolded out what I think need to be corrected.

This post has been edited by Meteor on Apr 17 2007, 08:15 AM

ah, that.. that's mere laziness of mine, lol.. and somehow, it feels wrong to keep repeating The engineer over and over again since there's after all only one engineer there.

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Apr 17 2007, 08:37 AM

Well, it's still interesting. Do I see a racing monk in the future?

No, but I can promise that there will be pretty, near-nekkid asian female spir- err, no more spoilers..

yes, Outlaw, it's going to be a ripoff.. though, these will be way different from Hellena.

WTF??

Anyway, like I said in ff.net, I hope to see more of this soon. And yes, there were a few errors but I'm sure you'll correct them whenever you have some time, ne?

oh, of course I will.. sooner or later.. I think.. *fingers crossed*

well, of course they won't be nekkid, just trying to spark some more interest in those readerswho have dirty mind.

edit2: chapter 11..

btw, is there anyone who would be willing to do some proofreading for my story? PM me if you have interest and time.

Chapter 11: Night of Monsters

Few days had passed since they had started their work on the KP60's. They both got a bump on their power, and the red one got a new pneumatically operated transmission in order to prevent future problems with power delivery.
The red one got finally a name after some long consideration, and with a spray of washer fluid, the car was christened as “Ifrit”, since it indeed did remind those fiery, savage spirits of Arabic mythology. Katashi still hadn't returned from his mysterious trip, so the kids were basically alone, doing whatever they liked.

“So, with this new ECU-program and upgraded super-and turbochargers the power tops out at 380bhp when boost scramble is enabled.. I have to get some experience of this new setup on the road, but that can wait. I hardly can wait to see what Ifrit can do with 1300bhp and these new Michelin tires!” Ryuu said, petting the special tires like proud father. Kohaku suffocated a chuckle rather violently.

Akira grinned. “Those tires.. Aren't they the same that are used in Veyron..?” He asked. “They must have cost a load of money..”
Ryuu twitched. “You have no idea.. I ordered few sets of them, and it's about 2,5 million yens for one set..” Akira just gaped at him, just like Kohaku did. They certainly weren't used to hear about such large sums of money.

“What? You'd better get used to it that I'm not as broke as I used to be.” Ryuu smirked, making the brothers roll their eyes.

Later in the evening, Ryuu decided to postpone the test of Ifrit, and climbed into the Touge-oriented car. He started it up, blipping the throttle few times. The sound of spooling was bit more dominant now, and the wastegate chattered more sharply as it released the overpressure from the induction system.

“My oh my, this will be fun. We shall see if we need to start thinking about taller sixth gear ratio. Is either of you willing to sit on the other seat?”
After brief hesitation Kohaku climbed on the seat, while Akira went to his own car, starting it and dashing off in a cloud of smoke. “Show off.. “ Ryuu muttered and launched his car after Akira's Levin, heading to the pylon.

They didn't notice dark car that emerged from the shadows, it's lights turned off as it followed it's prey.
Levin and Midnight Dragon attacked uphill eagerly, and finally Ryuu could totally enjoy of going uphill. He had mainly done downhill racing, but now he had enough power to take his opponents on uphill as well.

He kept some pressure on Akira, just to see how he'd cope with it. Kohaku laughed as he saw how his brothers car wiggled in the exit of the corners. “He's not that good yet, but there's definitely improvement there. At least he didn't spin this time.”
The dark car kept it's distance to the two cars ahead of it, following them slowly like a hunter tracking it's prey. Low rumble from it's exhaust echoed slightly from the walls as the car kept it's speed matched with the Levin and KP60 as they raced up to the pylon.

-Somewhere on the highway..-

Katashi was sweating slightly as he touched the paddle, slipping in bigger gear as he accelerated. The scenery and few cars that he passed were a blur of color and light. Tonight he was determined to find out the very limits of Godzilla GT-R's performance.150 Mph felt like 50 mph, and still the car felt remarkably stable. Thunder-like rumble of the exhaust, that was about a feet away from his seat, made the whole car shiver as Katashi pressed the throttle deeper. He passed some car that had wing and bodykit, but dismissed it as a ricer. Oh, how wrong he was.

Suddenly the GT-R's cabin was full of light as that car started tailgating him. Katashi glanced on his mirrors, identifying the modified car as older Mercedes coupe, that obviously had been modified for insane Wangan-runs.
Katashi grinned. If that Merc-driver wanted a race, it was fine by him. He floored the throttle, and Nismo-tuned V8 roared eagerly, making the car leap forwards. His chaser accelerated as well, but it wasn't quite as eager to accelerate as the GT-R.

Katashi frowned as the gap didn't seem to open up as much as he wanted it to. Mercedes stayed on his wake, drafting in the vacuum that the GT-R created. Katashi began to pass the cars sharply, cutting them off as he swerved from side to side, changing lanes as quickly as possible, just to keep the Mercedes off his tail. Slowly the gap opened more, and Katashi saw a chance for kill and went for it, pressing the throttle pedal down all the way.

GT-R's thundering roar got deeper, and speed climbed over 200mph with such ease, as if the car would have been meant to cruise at such speed. Katashi looked at the mirror, grunting as he saw that the merc hadn't been left behind. Instead, it was slowly gaining on him. “You got power, I have to admit.. But I have more gears.” He touched the paddle and sixth gear slipped in as the speed went past 230mph.

At this point, these two beasts were roaring ahead, accelerating side by side on the empty straight. Neither of them gave up, and speed was creeping past 250mph. “Welcome to the Veyron territory.. and beyond!” Katashi thought as he slipped seventh gear in. Mercedes was left behind as the victorious GT-R disappeared into the night at speed that would make every super- and hypercar envious.

-At the pylon-

Akira and Ryuu were surprised as they turned their cars around on the parking lot, as they saw a black car emerging from the darkness and blocking the way out.
“What the..?” Ryuu muttered as he stopped his car, opening the door and stepping out. Akira had got out from his car as well.

Kohaku looked at the ominous looking car for a while. “I've seen that car before.. it's TRD-tuned SW20 MR-2, with a highly tuned, normally aspirated V8 from Lexus LS400. It appeared few weeks ago around here, and has been spotted on this downhill and on highways as well, as if it had been searching something or someone.” Ryuu nodded, and then the MR-2's door opened and driver got out.
“Ryuu Masaru, finally I got you cornered. This time I'm better equipped for Touge..” The driver said, sneering at him.Ryuu frowned. “Excuse me, but do I know you? I don't remember your face.”

Other driver snorted. “Of course you don't remember me, you moron! We never saw face to face, and still you did beat me three times in row, first on Wangan, then twice on this downhill here. But now, I'll beat you so badly that your rising star will fade away faster than lightning.”
Ryuu stared at him. Suddenly it came to him. “Oh.. Ohhh, now I remember.. You're Pink, right? You got a new ride pretty quickly, and haven't saved any money when building it. Too bad that money can't buy skill..”

Pink growled. “Look who's talking.. I've been practicing here every night and since my SW20 is way lot smaller and more suitable than Supra was, it's easier to drive on these tight corners. And thanks to MR layout and grunt from the V8, I've been able to beat many racers here as well, and you'll be joining them as well with your puny KP60.”
Ryuu raised his eyebrows. “Puny..? Funny, I think I remember leaving certain white Slowpra behind on highway and mountain pass.. What makes you think that your Mister Two would be any different from that? From my point of view, you've managed to ruin yet another sporty Toyota with your power obsession.”

“There's never too much power when you have enough grip. I learned that on drag strip.” Pink said, just to get an amused sneer from Ryuu. “Yeah, but you obviously failed to notice one little thing.. That drag strips are straight, pretty much like Wangan where you should have stayed. You're on my home turf now.”
Pink looked like he would start a brawl right now. He took a while to calm down. “You.. Wrecked my car, and I will not rest until you've paid same price that I did. I'll race you here and now, and your car will most likely be wrecked as it should had been a long time ago. That is, if you're not too afraid to take my challenge, chicken..”

Akira gasped, as he remembered all too well what had happened at school when some bully had called Ryuu a chicken. Ryuu had placed a proper uppercut into the bully's chin, breaking few tooths in the process. After that the bullies had tried to get even with him, without any luck.

“Kohaku.. get into your brothers car. Akira, go to your place and wait there. I'll settle things for good with this idiot.”
Neither of the brothers did even consider doing otherwise. Kohaku looked from the window as these two road samurai's were left behind to settle their matters.
“Good luck, Ryuu.” He thought, hoping that his friend wouldn't do anything foolish.

Ryuu watched how Akira's Levin disappeared behind the first corner. He knew that it would take at least 10 minutes before they would reach the bottom of the mountain, so decided spend some time to find out what he had done to piss off this guy this badly.
“What exactly is your problem with me, Pink? I understand that you didn't like being defeated in front of your ex-girlfriend, but that spin out and crash was purely your own fault.” Ryuu asked from Pink, who had lit a cigarette.

“Mainly that first reason. I don't like being humiliated, and in a way that crash was your fault as well.”
“Bullshit. You crashed because you couldn't control your overpowered Wangan-machine when the tail stepped out. You don't just come on Touge with any kind of car. Every car you see here has been specially built and tuned into these conditions. That's why I built another car for Wangan. They differ from each other like ocean and desert.” Ryuu said.

“I learned that quickly, as you can see. Now, I'm perfectly prepared for this battle.” Pink boasted, blowing smoke from his mouth.”
“Oh really.. Then you can tell me what kind of drift styles there are, and why does one use clutch kick or trail braking in corners?” Ryuu asked, grinning.Pink gaped at him, obviously not having any clue about these essential things. “Huh..?”

Ryuu sighed, rolling his eyes. “You're about as well prepared for Touge as penguin is prepared to fly. It might be a bird but it can swim better than fly. You're not worthy opponent for me now, or anytime soon either. Go back to home and start studying. Otherwise you'll just wreck yet another car.”
“Shut up! You can't learn how to drive from the book or Internet!” Pink snapped, glaring at Ryuu.

“You should try watching a video called 'Drift Bible' then. You will be surprised how much you can learn from that. And then, there's huge amount of knowledge about Touge-racing on the Internet. Give it a try, keep practicing, and then I might waste some fuel on you.” Ryuu said, turning his back to Pink and opening the door of his car, dropping on the bucket seat.

“Hey! Don't you turn your back to me, you f**king coward!” Pink yelled as Ryuu started the engine. Pink quickly got into his car as Ryuu darted off from the parking lot at full throttle, and soon Pink's V8-powered MR-2 followed the Midnight Dragon. “You won't get away like that, Masaru! Ignoring me like that earned you a first class ticket to hell, and on that trip, I'll be the grim reaper!”

To be continued..

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Apr 20 2007, 08:47 AM

*finishes reading the chapter*

*looks at last bit of dialouge*

*shivers slightly*

*falls off edge of seat*

And the fic's starting to get even better!

This post has been edited by Meteor on Apr 21 2007, 08:06 AM

I'm glad to hear that you liked it. Future chapters will be bit more action-filled, and there will be some sort of accident, as soon as I'll find a good spot for it.. who and when? we shall see..

TEASER TIME!

“Tires are starting to give in..” Ryuu realized as KP60 lurched sickeningly in mid-corner. “I need to end this quickly, but how..?” Ryuu's head hit the headrest as Pink's bumper tapped his, almost causing the KP60 spin out of control. “You son of a-!” Ryuu uttered as he regained control. He activated the boost scramble, increasing distance to the MR2. “Trying to push me off the road, huh?” It took a while before Ryuu realized that there was a woman on the passenger seat. “Wha?! Who the hell are you?!”

DUDE - you are evil

Teasers are evil.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next chapter, and looking forward to seeing the performance of the Devil Starlet.

Devil Starlet? ahh, right, you mean "Ifrit". I'll possibly try drawing it sooner or later. though, my drawing skills are far from good..

edit: chapter 12


Chapter 12: Spirits Within; Chiyoko and Ifrit

Ryuu grimaced a bit as he heard and felt how the tires slipped when he applied more throttle, whipping the Midnight Dragon around the corners at feverish pace. He knew that Pink would have advantage at the straighter beginning section of this downhill circuit. Despite the power hike, he felt that he couldn't run from Pink this time.
“Come on, old girl, don't fail me now.. Show me what you can do!” Ryuu muttered as he accelerated beyond 100mph. He felt that the car did have lot to offer, but he had to find a way to pull it all out.

Pink bit his lip, glancing at the speedometer. He was driving faster than he had dared to drive with his precious Supra on this same road. He had exceeded 140mph, and still, he hadn't gained Ryuu as much as he should had.
“That bastard didn't go all out back then..” Pink thought, sliding his V8-powered SW20 MR2 around the corner, spotting the rear lights of the KP60. “Aha, there you are! I'm gaining on him.. You're going to be history soon, Masaru!”

On the base of the mountain, Akira and Kohaku were listening carefully. Then they heard it faintly, easily recognizable high-pitched wail and hissing of Ryuu's 4A-G hybrid, and brutal, savage bellowing of Pink's V8. “They've started.. I hope that Pink will learn from this time and stop bothering us.” Kohaku said.
“That's highly unlikely. Pink has been a pain in the butt since he was passed on Wangan. He needs to learn things hard way..” Akira muttered, looking worried. “I hope he won't do anything ultimately stupid though.”

Ryuu didn't need to look at his mirrors to know that Pink's black MR2 was right on his bumper as they both drifted, accelerated and decelerated into the corners and out of the corners, trying to outsmart each other. Ryuu could smell the odor of the burning brakes, and still, he was pretty sure that Pink's brakes were in similar condition.
At the moment, race was a tie, neither didn't give in an inch. Dark scenery was blur as they kept going down, corner after corner. Ryuu was sweating heavily as he struggled with the wheel, doing his best to keep his speed up, gripping when he could, hooking his inner tires on the gutters. Still, Pink was breathing on his neck, keeping the pressure high.

“Tires are starting to give in..” Ryuu realized as KP60 lurched sickeningly in mid-corner. “I need to end this quickly, but how..?” Ryuu's head hit the headrest as Pink's bumper tapped his, almost causing the KP60 spin out of control. “You son of a-!” Ryuu uttered as he regained control. He activated the boost scramble, increasing distance to the MR2. “Trying to push me off the road, huh?” It took a while before Ryuu realized that there was a woman on the passenger seat. “Wha?! Who the hell are you?!”

Pink grinned as he saw how the KP60 squirmed after the bump. “That's right, run and waste your tires, little one.. Soon you'll learn how to fly without wings” Pink sneered, applying more throttle, intending to slam harder to the rear of the small hatchback. But the car began to escape from him slowly. “Huh..? Oh no you won't!” Pink pushed a button on the wheel, and nitrous oxide flooded to the engine, boosting the combustion event and sending the MR2 after the smaller KP60.

“Uh, hello, master Masaru. I know that this really isn't a good moment, but I have to take some action to prevent the accident that this moron behind us is trying to cause.” The female next to Ryuu said. She was dressed in dazzling blue outfit, that didn't seem to belong to this time.
She touched Ryuu's hand, and without any resistance, Ryuu felt that he had become just a passenger in his mind as this mysterious female took control of his body. Slowly but certainly, Pink's MR2 vanished from the mirrors, just to re-appear at great speed. They were just entering a corner, as the female decided to slam heavily on the brakes.

Pink instinctively swerved towards outside to avoid collision. He had too much speed, and once again, he could only press the clutch and brake as the guardrail approached him. His world faded out with the sound of shattering glass and crunching plastic and metal as his car smashed against the guardrail, ricocheting to the wall before stopping.
Female took his phone and dialed emergency number, calling an ambulance. Ryuu was back in control, and he spotted Akira and Kohaku on a parking lot. He drove to them, looking at the mystical female. “My name is Chiyoko, master Masaru. We'll be in touch later.” After that she disappeared. Ryuu leaned his head against the wheel, panting.

Akira opened the door, looking at him. “Are you alright? We heard the sound of a crash.. Was it Pink again?” Ryuu lifted his head. “Yes.. He came into corner too fast.. It looked bad. I already called ambulance for him.”
Akira nodded. They could already hear the sirens in the distance. “Come on, let's go home. You look like you would had seen a ghost.” Ryuu glanced at him, nodding. “I did.” Ryuu started the car, closing the door before Akira could ask more.

Pink awakened inside his car. For a moment he looked around, noticing the shattered windshield and battered hood. He opened the door, and carefully got out of his car, looking at the damage. It looked bad, but it wasn't beyond repair.
Guardrail had cushioned the worst impact and rubbed off the speed. He cursed and kicked the guardrail in his helpless rage, before sitting on the nose of his car. He could already hear the sirens. “Why..? How?” That was all what he could think. He sat there until ambulance arrived, explaining something about evading a squirrel that had ran across the road.

~At Hideaki's residence~

Ryuu was sitting in the garage, looking at both of his cars. He had a steaming cup of coffee on his hands, and he took a sip from it every now and then. He was seriously questioning his sanity. Womans that disappeared into thin air?
Akira joined him, sitting down and looking at the Midnight Dragon. “You'll need new tires before getting into next race.. But what happened? Was he really that hard opponent?”
Ryuu sighed. “I had difficulties to shake him off. He indeed has improved, but in the end, it was about the familiarity with the car and road, not to mention skills. And then there was that woman..”
Akira stared at him. “A woman? With Pink? That can't be, he's..”
Ryuu snorted. “No, Akira. A woman on MY car. She appeared out of nowhere, took control of my body causing Pink to crash, then disappeared saying that we would meet again.”

Akira stared at him. “Are you sure you didn't bump your head when Pink tapped your bumper?”
Ryuu was about to give him a glare when new voice interrupted him. “Bah. Kid is just bit shocked from her sudden appearance. We usually come out only when our Master is in danger.” They both looked up, noticing two figures next to the cars, a man and woman. Ryuu recognized the woman instantly. “That's her.. Chiyoko, was it?”
Woman nodded, then pointed at the man who had talked. “He's Ifrit, as you might have guessed, Master. I had hoped that we could meet in bit different kind of situation, but that incident earlier didn't give me any other chance.”
Akira stared at both of them, mouth hanging as he tried to make something intelligent come out. “What.. When.. Who are you two?”

Ifrit spoke again. “It's rather simple, really. We are the spirits that were binded to these cars by an ancient spell. Didn't you see the monk who did it few days ago?”
Akira and Ryuu shook their heads. “No.. I guess it has happened when were on the mountain, trying out your Levin..”
Ifrit groaned, slapping his forehead. “Oh great.. Just perfect. That senile old fart forgot to tell about us again, and just performed the ritual without permission. Isn't it enough that Devil Z and Berserker R are running free?”
Chiyoko just rolled her eyes. “Well, at least you got binded to a car that suits your personality.. Show off.” Ifrit ignored the last remark, looking at the car. “My oh my, you're right. It's a fine car indeed. Plenty of grunt and grip, where as yours has neither.. Well, that is probably better than what Hellena has.”

Ryuu and Akira looked at each other, then back to these.. entities. “Uh.. Excuse me, but.. You two know each other..? And then, there's more of cars with 'spirits' like you two?” Ryuu asked, after taking a sip from his coffee. If he was shocked from this event, he didn't let it show. Akira on the other hand was just staring at the two.
Ifrit grunted. “Indeed it is so. There isn't many of incidents like this, but they do occur every now and then. And that crazy old monk isn't making things any easier. And your other question.. Yes, we know each other. We also know you, Ryuu Masaru. Everything about you. We will help.. And interfere when you're in trouble, but otherwise, don't bother your mind with us.. yet”
After that they vanished.

“W-were we hallucinating or something?” Akira asked, looking around nervously. He rubbed his arms, shivering.
“As far as I can tell, we didn't.. They were real apparitions.. Or then we both are going crazy.” Ryuu said, squeezing his coffee mug tightly. “Tomorrow it's Ifrit's turn to have a shakedown run. I think it's ready for Wangan now, especially if we managed to fix the lifting of the nose.”
Akira groaned. “Are you serious? That means that I have to get high octane fuel for you, and then my precious will smell like it for hours..” Ryuu rolled his eyes and sighed. “Very well, I'll get the fuel myself.”

~In a motel nearby~

Ryosuke leaned his chin to his hands as he watched the video footage again and again. On the screen, black, heavily tuned MR2 and small, skillfully built KP60 roared past the camera endlessly. MR2 nudged the KP60 slightly, trying to make it spin. The KP60 recovered instantly, hardly slowing down at all.
“Is this all you could get of that race?” Ryosuke asked from Kenta., who had been scouting with Fumihiro this time.
“That was all. We didn't even know that there was going to be a race there tonight. We saw the KP60 and old leving going up followed by that MR2, then the Levin returned in a hurry.” Kenta said.
“And then these two daredevils barreled down the road like there would be no tomorrow. If you watch further, you'll see that the MR2 crashed.” Fumihiro continued, as Ryosuke watched the rest of the footage.
“Interesting.. This KP60 is more impressive than I thought. It's much more firm on the corners than Fujiwara's 86..” Ryosuke frowned slightly. “It'll be truly challenging opponent. Tomorrow we'll start working our way through local teams.
Kenta was overjoyed. “Yay! Again I'll get to witness how Keisuke whoops everyones ass on uphill!”
Keisuke sighed, holding his head. “Bit louder, please? There's someone in the next prefecture who didn't hear your cheerful voice, Kenta..”
Fumihiro and Ryosuke laughed softly at poor Keisuke. “Who told you to drink so much?”
Keisuke just shot a nasty glare at them.

To be continued..

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on May 1 2007, 10:28 AM