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> [FANFIC] Real Drivers (A Paradox), An Initial D fanfic
HyperSonic
  Posted: Nov 18 2012, 07:45 PM


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I have read a lot of fanfic here in IDW and a couple from some other sites (i.e ff.net).

I really wanted to make my own, and this is the start. I had help from a couple of friends here in IDW. After this fic, I'll push through with the ID universe.

Please feel free to comment any time about anything related to my fic.
For suggestions please send me personal message and I'll think about it.



Chapter 1 “When Sakai lost the smile, he lost”

‘Since we took off from the starting line, he has been glued to my bumper and I can’t shake him off. I never thought I would be using that in this battle. They really are something. Daiki, one of the top students with his EK9 was defeated by an underpowered 86, and my Integra is being chased by a much older FD.’ Sakai loosened his face to a smile and continued his climb through the 2nd hairpin corner. The Integra and the FD had been bumper to bumper since it left the official starting line of the hill climb. They have been through straights and curves but the FD never left the Integra’s back. At the short stretch before the entrance of the first hairpin corner, the Integra suddenly raised the pace on which they’d been racing, the two cars relying on their tire’s grip to continue moving forward to the top of the mountain pass at unbelievable speed. The FD was counting on its rear tire traction to push it faster and pass the Integra. Sakai floored the accelerator hoping that the front tires would pull him harder and make his breakaway run from the chasing FD.
The two cars, battling uphill Enna Skyline - Todo’s home course - were running with incredible traction. They devoured corner after corner with tremendous precision. They took every straight with monstrous power. Keisuke and his FD were trailing with just a fraction of a second. ‘The hill climb is a battle of concentration. If you lose focus, you lose the race.’ Sakai told himself. The Integra continued to dart forward. Sakai, still squeezing the accelerator, up shifted into third. Soon the turbocharger kicked in and the rev meter jumped to the redline. The DC2 geared up to fourth. Sakai raised the pace some more.

‘So an FF can get this much traction going uphill huh? I don’t know how they tuned his car, but his Integra's fast for an FF. His cornering's surprising too.’ Keisuke thought. ‘That whistling sound is from a turbocharger. That'd explain his straightaway speed somewhat at least.’
_________________________________________________________

Meanwhile at the top of the track, “Keisuke has been around most of the time, as a result I have enough time to pass to him important knowledge easily. Unlike Fujiwara who is racing based on instructions and his instincts, Keisuke’s reaction doesn’t need reason. And with that, whatever the DC2’s driver does will be useless, considering their difference in power, we are going to win.” Ryosuke explained the reason behind him not giving his younger brother any advice before the beginning of the climb.

On the other hand, “if the driver on the FD is at the same calibre as the driver which defeated Daiki, Sakai is in trouble.” A guy in the galleries said it loud enough for Kyouichi Sudo, who’s standing far from the corner, to hear that.

“I wouldn’t think like that, as an alumnus of Todo Racing School, I know that this guy has enough skill to let Todo-san entrust the uphill battle to him. An FF with a single turbo in a VTEC against a rotary with twin-turbo wouldn’t be much of a battle if this guy has no skill to keep the FD from passing him.” The leader of the Emperors explained. ‘But that is not considering the brains behind the racers. I saw the 86 battle against Seiji and now it is a part of a new team created by Ryosuke. And he defeated Todo’s brake specialist. Ryosuke is good at training drivers.’ He thought.

“It doesn’t really matter who wins the uphill. We are still going to challenge Todo Juku. If Project D wins, we have to defeat the Todo Juku to continue our dream, which is to be the best in touge racing in all of Japan.” A guy standing on a separate gallery with a girl, lying on the hood of a black RX8 was waiting for the outcome of the race. ‘She has been confident ever since. She never showed weakness during her battle against the Seven Star Leaf. I know she can fulfil our dream. She has to.’ Ryujin Kamibayashi thought.
_________________________________________________________

‘I already got used to his pace. It’s not difficult to follow and his rhythm is not very extraordinary.’ Keisuke was surprised, the brake lights of the Integra lit. Responding instinctively to avoid a crash, he let go of the accelerator and slowed down a bit.

Without losing speed Sakai continued to stay in front and sprinted away from the FD. The Integra putting a 20 meter gap between the racers used the FD’s turbo lag to pull away from it. ‘Brake feint is a common tool used here in Todo Juku, if you haven’t heard of it; you shouldn’t have messed with us from the first place.’ Smiley Sakai thought as he dove on the 3rd corner without braking but letting go of his accelerator to decrease speed. He lost speed making it easier to enter the corner and floored the accelerator to shoot out of the corner as fast as the engine allowed him to.

As Keisuke floored the accelerator he sped past the corner’s entrance with suicidal speed realizing almost too late that he entered the corner too hot and he might hit the guardrails. The FD skidded sideways; Keisuke buried the throttle on an attempt to keep the FD from hitting the rails and continue moving forward. The tires cried for grip. And with the lead being lengthened by Sakai, Keisuke knew that he must not make any more mistakes. Grip registered on the asphalt and the FD was more than happy to lunge forward. Keisuke attacked the course with intense accuracy, slowly chewing the Integra’s lead. And no sooner than it began he was once again riding the DC2’s bumper.

‘This Keisuke guy is really amazing; he caught up even from a big gap I created.’ Smiley Sakai thought.
______________________________________________________________
At the finish line; “I’d hate to be that FD guy right now. Sakai is really deadly when he is leading.” one of Sakai’s co-students said. “He once drove with me on his navigator seat and with a battle so heated up like this I could see him almost smiling. And that’s when he attacks, he is so good at misleading the chaser, I for once saw him use the brake feint and when the car behind slows down he then speeds up. And he will also lead in a corner not yet visible to the other driver with tremendous speed realizing that the chaser would follow suit, then correcting his speed and angle at the middle of the turn. The other driver might even crash if he enters the corner the way he thought Sakai entered the same corner.”
_______________________________________________________________
The dog fight continued with the FD on the Integra’s tail. Sakai could feel pressure like bullets passing through his car. ‘I can’t let him hit me, or else I’m going down.’ Sakai thought. With all his might he tried to shake off the FD but to no avail. The FD continued on its pursuit to end the dogfight and emerge victorious. The DC2 once again dove for a corner with the FD right on its tail. ‘The only weakness of the Integra-Turbo is low speed cornering. Burying the throttle in low gears will force the front tires to claw for grip and the car to continue moving forward. Thus causing a slight difficulty on controlling the car. He would be catching up on the corners; the high-speed curves are not a problem so in a few moments he would be sticking his nose back on my tail. Then before the finish line I’ll use the brake feint again to ensure the victory,’ Sakai thought, his smile disappearing.
‘You have your style, I have mine. And I also have the pride of Project D to uphold.’ With that thought in mind, Keisuke squeezed the accelerator some more and drew closer to the Integra.

A low speed corner came up. The Integra downshifted and turned, stepped on the accelerator and forced a turn, Sakai, fought for control, the steering wheel became as stiff as hell, making the turn more difficult. He managed to turn and accelerate at the same time at the cost of a half meter gap between his car and the wall.
Keisuke’s eyes grew wide as he saw an opening. He pushed the pedal some more and the FD inched closer, it stuck its nose in between the Integra and the wall. Realizing that the space was not enough he pushed his car a little bit to the side and the tires went up the gutter. Half of the car was on the road and half of it on the gutter. Keisuke pushed hard and punched through the gap. At the exit of the said corner, with an angry roar from his FD, the rotary rocket sped past Sakai.
The FD took the lead and continued to accelerate. He dove into the next corner and he was gone.


Chapter 2 “The Brake-Feint Counter”

After a massive loss against Project D, Todo Juku was challenged again by a team from Fukushima, more specifically from the Ebisu Circuit.

“Who do they think they are? Even we lost against Project D; we shouldn’t be taken so lightly. They even brought a young girl as their driver. This is so insulting.” The director of Todo Juku had said.

“We won’t go easy on them. I lost because I was careless and never thought that I would be beaten by an obsolete ’86. They won’t have a chance since they would be bringing circuit theory to race on our course.” Daiki said.

“Racing in a circuit under certain rules without varying circumstances might be not challenging anymore, maybe that’s why they wanted to try something new. But their experience on the circuit is not enough to defeat us. We will hold our ground and show them that they don’t belong on the streets.” Todo san said.

With that Daiki and Sakai prepared for the race. They didn’t want to build a losing streak by being defeated by a visiting team on their own home course twice.

“Have you heard our next opponent would race using only one driver? The same driver you will race against on the uphill will be racing against me on the downhill as well. That gives us an advantage.” Daiki said.

“I won’t be confident if I were you. I am quite certain that this team also follows Project D’s progress, that’s why they have challenged us after being defeated by Project D. Their motives are unknown as of now but I can feel there is something sinister about them.” Sakai warned.

Sakai and Daiki continued on checking their cars. After dark they reran the track and fine-tuned their cars adjustments. The upcoming battle would be fierce as hell and even though the opposing driver was a lady they didn’t want to hold back. There would be no room for mistakes.

The night before the race Speed Factory arrived in a van and two pick-up trucks with trailers attached to each. The trailers were carrying the two cars, each one covered on top of each trailer. The pick-up trucks also carried tires, spare parts, and each cars mechanic. The racer and the team leader were in the van.

“Good evening, we are Speed Factory from Fukushima; we would like to practice tonight before the race tomorrow.” Ryujin Kamibayashi leader and spokesperson of Speed Factory said to Daiki.

“Do as you wish. The course is yours for the rest of the night, if there’s anything you need feel free to ask.” Daiki offered.

“Thank you very much for your offer, you have been kind enough to give us the course for the whole night, we are very much honoured by your hospitality.” Ryujin said.

Ryujin turned around and walked toward his team with a smile. The uphill car was uncovered and a lady in red leather halter top with matching black jeans and a choker decorated with a crucifix came near to it and shouted to its mechanic, “I want to set the RX8 first.” With that the mechanic joined her in the RX8 and they drove downhill to start the tweaking process.

The whole night passed by. Everything worked fine for the Speed Factory. The night of the race came.

“We would want to settle this on a sudden death race. First across the finish line wins.” Ryujin stated.

“We agree with the rules.”

“Let’s do the uphill first”

“OK”

At the starting line, the two cars lined up.

Sakai went out of his car while the other racer was coming to hers. “They call me Sakai.” He introduced.

“Call me Nikki, Nikki Hajime.” After introducing herself, she entered her car on the left hand side. Sakai went in on his own car and the engines roared to life. The countdown started and the race began.

The starting dash had been intense; both sprinted away from the starting line in a mad urge to take the lead. Both cars had been side by side from the start up to the entrance of the first corner where the Integra was on the inside thus having the chance to take the early lead.
____________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile at the top of the course, “This team is as organized as Project D; they also appear professional and do what professionals do. But their leader is not as good as Ryosuke, he never thought of the consequences of having a single driver running the downhill and the uphill.” Daiki had said.

On the other side of the finish line, “This battle will not be easy. The advantage is on our side. I have seen Sakai’s race against the FD though not its entirety and I may say I am not impressed but I am surprised that Nikki had grown to a level where she can defeat guys like this. Speed Factory has developed into a team where all members are capable to think on their own and still get the best result without me guiding them.” Ryujin explained to his team members the reason behind his smile even though they are behind by a few car lengths.
____________________________________________________________________

The black RX8 trailed the Integra; it had been following its line since they entered the first corner. ‘Similar to the FD, this opponent is following me like a dog. But unlike my race against the FD I won’t lose due to my car’s weakness. I have increased my car’s responsiveness during low speed cornering by tweaking the suspension. I won’t hold back even if you are a girl.’ Sakai thought with a smile.

‘His pacing, throttle control and braking points can be called conventional. After driving behind him for quite some time now, I can say he is really an exceptional racer. The lines are optimal thus keeping his speed without losing much tire grip getting ready for an all-out sudden attack.’ Nikki suddenly eased on the accelerator upon seeing the Integra’s brake light flash red. “What?”

The brake feint had been Sakai’s weapon against deadly opponents. And he had succeeded on this attack every time he used it. But this time the RX8 has responded quite quick and wasn’t left behind by the Integra. ‘No turbo lag? This can’t be, her RX8 must have a turbo to create this much power on the uphill, unless, a Supercharger is installed in place of a turbocharger to eliminate turbo lag at the expense of boost. You may have survived my first attack but I must say I still have surprises for you.’ Sakai thought.

‘What was that? Braking without losing speed? Do that again in front of me.’ Nikki thought. She continued following the DC2 and waited for a chance to overtake. After coming out of a corner Sakai brake feinted again and Nikki released the accelerator a bit for the second time during the battle. ‘So that’s what you do. You continue on accelerating while the chaser slows down because of your trick. I won’t be fooled by that again.’ Nikki thought.

‘And now it’s time to increase the gap some more.’ Sakai thought. ‘The next section of the course is perfect for this 3 stage trap. I never thought of using it but without the presence of a turbo my brake feint attack isn’t effective enough to guarantee a win. Too bad you’re my opponent.’ During the middle of a straight the DC2 brake-feinted again and for the 3rd time Nikki fell for it. The DC2 increased its lead by another meter and started the 2nd phase of the trap by diving into a corner without braking making it look like a high speed corner. The RX8 attacked the corner in high speed and realized at the beginning of the turn-in that the corner shouldn’t be taken at high speed, easing on the throttle and tapping the brake a couple of times reduced her speed for the turn, at the exit of the turn she was again right behind the Integra. Sakai smiled. The attack went perfectly as planned. For the 3rd stage of the attack he brake feinted again as the RX8 eased closer to his bumper and Nikki mistook it again for a real brake, she slammed on her brake and reduced her speed a lot giving Sakai and his Integra a 23 meter advantage.

‘I can’t distinguish between the real brake and the fake one. What should I do?’ Nikki thought.
____________________________________________________________________

Nikki slammed her closed fists on her lap, and with a frown, “Dad, this is unfair.” The young Nikki told his dad.

“What is unfair? Explain to me.” Her dad said.

“When you put your knight like so, I would be thinking that the attack would come from this side. But when I took all the necessary counter measures, I leave my other flank open for a possible blitz.” Nikki explained. “But if I did not defend this side of my army, either my queen would be taken or a check-mate.”

“Honey, all is fair. Life is unfair to everyone therefore it is fair. I only came up with the said tactic because you let me do it to you. Example, if from the very start, let’s go back a couple of moves, you have taken that said knight leaving my queen defenceless, all of this never happened. I won’t have this kind of attack if from the first place you never let me do it.” Her dad taught her.
____________________________________________________________________

After remembering a chess lesson from her dad, “He can’t attack if I prevent him to do it.” Nikki told herself. Nikki pushed down the accelerator more, ‘I have to be back on his tail. I know exactly how to seal that brake-feint and defeat this tricky guy.’ Nikki thought.

With a blink of an eye Nikki’s rhythm changed, before every corner she braked later than usual extending her braking point to a part of the turn-in allowing her to enter at a much higher speed than usual. Using the late apex line and trail braking for a couple of turns she caught up with the Integra and once again she is bumper to bumper with the leading DC2. She worked on the throttle to gain more lost ground. A moment later, she was right behind the Integra. The RX-8 was so close to the Integra its headlights blocked the Integra's brake lights from her view. The illumination from her headlights reduced the brake light’s brightness. She won’t be able to notice the brake lights flashing. ‘I know your pace, your pace is optimal, and I know exactly when will you brake, even though you use the brake feint on me I will be able to ignore it easily since I can’t see your brake lights.’ Nikki said. ‘I will force you to brake only on your real braking points or we’ll crash.’

‘What? Doesn’t she know that if I slow down a bit we would crash? This girl has guts to stick to me like this.’ Sakai thought.

The two continued their race going to the top. The Integra just wants to stay in front to win while the RX8 was waiting for a chance to turn the tables. The brake-feint is sealed, but was it enough to defeat Sakai who had lead all the way through to the 2nd half of the course?
facepalm.gif

This post has been edited by HyperSonic on Sep 23 2014, 06:11 PM
shadow55419
Posted: Nov 18 2012, 08:29 PM


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very good, putting the ocs in the D race gallery is difficult sometimes but smart to do in this case.

also saw you fixed those minor problems i pointed out perfectly.
Saxifrage
Posted: Nov 18 2012, 08:37 PM


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Meteor told me that he proof-read your fanfic and I was waiting for you to post it up. awesome.gif
Well first of all,Todo Juku's home course ISN'T Happogahara.It's ENNA SKYLINE.Happogahara was Todo Juku's unofficial 2nd home course,but that was just for the Tomoyuki vs Takumi race.Sakai raced against Keisuke at Enna Skyline.

It'll be more logical if Sakai raced Nikki at Enna Skyline instead of Happogahara.
Also,Happogahara isn't a course that you can go downhill or uphill.It's a mixed of both downhill and uphill.So the directions should be either inbound or outbound.(Sources?IDAS player awesome.gif )

I guess I did spot some errors,mostly punctuations.But I'm just too lazy to write them out. facepalm.gif
QUOTE
She worked on the throttle to gain more lost ground she was right behind the Integra, so close her head lights were almost blocking Sakai’s brake lights from her view.

Isn't this sentence weird? Maybe this will be better?
QUOTE
She worked on the throttle to gain more lost ground.A moment later, she was right behind the Integra. The RX-8 was so close to the Integra its headlights blocked the Integra's brake lights from her view.


Keep writing. happy.gif
Speaking of which, I should start writing Chapter 3 of "A New Legend" today..Prepare for updates! smile.gif
HyperSonic
  Posted: Nov 18 2012, 08:46 PM


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QUOTE (Nicholas86 @ 9 minutes, 14 seconds ago)
Meteor told me that he proof-read your fanfic and I was waiting for you to post it up.  awesome.gif
Well first of all,Todo Juku's home course ISN'T Happogahara.It's ENNA SKYLINE.Happogahara was Todo Juku's unofficial 2nd home course,but that was just for the Tomoyuki vs Takumi race.Sakai raced against Keisuke at Enna Skyline.

It'll be more logical if Sakai raced Nikki at Enna Skyline instead of Happogahara.
Also,Happogahara isn't a course that you can go downhill or uphill.It's a mixed of both downhill and uphill.So the directions should be either inbound or outbound.(Sources?IDAS player  awesome.gif )

I'll fix this up, wait a bit....

BTW thanks for the info.




[edited] finished editing the home course thing.


@Shadow, your review was really helpful, though I took long on how to fix that.

This post has been edited by HyperSonic on Nov 18 2012, 08:51 PM
Meteor
Posted: Nov 21 2012, 11:06 AM


Were you expecting something else?
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QUOTE (Nicholas86)
QUOTE
She worked on the throttle to gain more lost ground she was right behind the Integra, so close her head lights were almost blocking Sakai’s brake lights from her view.

Isn't this sentence weird?

To think I didn't catch this. . . . I have failed as a proofreader - Sorry HyperSonic.

Yeah, this post is a little late (my internet was on the fritz). But anyway, this is a decent start to the story so far.

I have to say that the race in Chapter 1 is a lot more intense than I remember it being (great job on the edits). There's now a slight inconsistency between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 though (First they call him Todo-sama, now they're just calling him Todo-san), but I guess that was partially my fault.
(How do the Todo Juku students really refer to their director anyway? Sama? San? "San" seems most likely but it could be something else entirely for all I know.)
Well, this fic is being written in English and all, so I'll just point out that the honorifics generally aren't all that necessary and don't really change the quality of the writing much (you can keep that in mind in case forgoing the honorifics will make things easier for you).
Anyway, chapter 1 looks really good now as a whole. I did spot some things that you could fix though.
QUOTE
He lost speed, making it easier to enter the corner; and flooring floored the accelerator to shoot out of the corner as fast as the engine allows allowed him to.

Past-tense and present-tense getting mixed together too much again.
QUOTE
As Keisuke floored the accelerator he sped past the corner’s entrance with suicidal speed realizing almost too late that he entered the corner too hot he might hit the guardrails.

There should at the very least be something between "entered the corner too hot" and "he might hit the guardrail". This was also something I should've caught during the proofreading and I'm really sorry I didn't.
Anyway, you could try changing this to "he entered the corner too hot and could hit the guardrails" (or "would hit the guardrail going at his current speed") or anything else that sounds better here.
QUOTE
‘The hill climb is a battle of concentration. If you lose focus, you lose the race.’ Sakai told himself. The Integra continued to dart forward, Sakai still squeezing the accelerator, up shifted into third. Soon the turbocharger kicked in and the rev meter jumped to the redline.

Punctuation stuff here - Yet another thing I should've caught during proofreading (I apologise again and I'll try to do a better job next time). Anyway, with the punctuation fixed, it's:
"The Integra continued to dart forward. Sakai, still squeezing the accelerator, up-shifted into third."
QUOTE
On the other hand, “if the driver on the FD is at the same calibre as the driver which defeated Daiki, Sakai is in trouble.” A guy in the galleries said it loud enough for Kyouichi Sudo, who’s standing far from the corner to hear that.

Yet more that I shouldn't have missed. For the first one; the quote-marks start too late here (the "On the other hand" part is clearly intended to be part of a spoken line, so the start of the quotation should be at "On", not "if"). The second one sounds like "Kyouichi's too far from the corner to hear that", but clearly isn't. Assuming the problem there is simply the lack of an extra comma, the fix is as simple as: "A guy in the galleries said it loud enough for Kyouichi Sudo, who’s standing far from the corner, to hear it."
QUOTE
A low speed corner came up. The Integra downshifted and turned, stepping stepped on the accelerator and forced a turn.

The FD took the lead and continued to accelerate. He dove into the next corner and he’s was gone.

More past-tense-present-tense stuff.

And there seems to be a small inconsistency within the chapter itself. I see I also missed some grammar stuff here when checking the draft, but that doesn't matter any more.
QUOTE
And he will also lead in a corner not yet visible to the other driver with tremendous speed realizing that the chaser would follow suit, then correcting his speed and angle at the middle of the turn.

While this would've been true in the initial draft, the chapter that you did post up already pointed out that Sakai started slowing down before the turn (thus, correcting his speed before the middle of the turn, not at it). You didn't mean for the guy saying this to be incorrect in his description of this trick, so I think it's best that you change said description to match.

And hopefully that's it for Chapter 1. Now for Chapter 2.

There aren't too many mistakes in this one either. And you also fixed up most of the ones from the draft pretty well. The changes to Nikki's observations of Sakai's driving didn't really change anything though, but I guess this part doesn't really need fixing.

As for what does need work:
QUOTE
“This battle would be not easy. The advantage is on our side. I have seen Sakai’s race against the FD though not its entirety and I may say I am not impressed but I am surprised that Nikki had grown to a level where she can defeat guys like this. Speed Factory has developed into a team where all members are capable to think on their own and still get the best result without me guiding them.” Ryujin explained to his team members the reason behind his smile even though they are behind by a few car lengths.

In this case, "will not be easy" just works better. Another one I missed during proofreading.
QUOTE
Sakai and Daiki continued on checking their cars. After dark they reran the track and fine-tuned their cars adjustments.

Missing apostrophe after "cars". I should've caught this one during proofreading too.
QUOTE
The RX8 attacked the corner in high speed and realized at the beginning of the turn-in that the corner shouldn’t be taken at high speed, easing on the throttle and tapping the brake a couple of times reduced her speed for the turn, at the exit of the turn she was again right behind the Integra. Sakai smiled that the attack went perfectly as planned.

I missed two things here too. Sorry yet again.
1. "tapping the brake a couple of times" and "reduced her speed for the turn" don't connect on their own. You can try "tapping the brake a couple of time and reducing her speed for the turn". That'll let you fix this in a way that also makes it fit better with the rest of the sentence.
2. "Sakai smiled that the" also doesn't seem entirely right. There're some ways of fixing things here, but the only one I can think of now is: "Sakai smiled. The attack had gone perfectly."
QUOTE
The illumination from her headlights reduces the brake light’s brightness.

"reduced"

And finally, one more thing I'd missed, which also happens to be a little tricky to fix.
QUOTE
The two continued their race going to the top. The Integra just wants to stay in front to win while the RX8 was waiting for a chance to turn the tables. The brake-feint is sealed, but was it enough to defeat Sakai who had lead all the way through the 2nd half of the course?

So, this sounds like one of those "Tune-in next time!" things a narrator would say on some shows. Assuming that's what you were going for, this first fix will try to keep that spirit in it.
QUOTE
‘What? Doesn’t she know that if I slow down a bit we would crash? This girl has guts to stick to me like this.’ Sakai thought.

The two continue their race going to the top. The Integra just wants to stay in front to win while the RX8 is waiting for a chance to turn the tables. The brake-feint is sealed, but was it enough to defeat Sakai who had lead almost all the way through the 2nd half of the course?

But if you're not going for that, I guess something like this could work:
QUOTE
The two continued their race going to the top. The Integra just wanted to stay in front to win while the RX8 was waiting for a chance to turn the tables. The brake-feint was sealed, but whether or not that would be enough was a different question. Sakai had still lead all the way through almost the entire 2nd half of the course.

Or maybe only fixing the grammar would be enough.
QUOTE
The two continued their race going to the top. The Integra just wanted to stay in front to win while the RX8 was waiting for a chance to turn the tables. The brake-feint was sealed, but would it be enough to defeat Sakai who had lead all the way through the 2nd half of the course?

I'm really not entirely sure of how to fix this.
Also, "lead all the way through the 2nd half of the course?" accidentally sounds like Sakai has already finished the 2nd half of the course (i.e: finished the race) in first. So, did you mean to say that Sakai had lead through almost the entire 2nd half of the course or did you mean to say that Sakai had lead through the first half and Nikki has most of the second half to make her move?

Well, anyway, nice work with both chapters and best of luck with what you've got planned for the later ones. As with the other ID fics that are currently running/supposed to be running, I'd like to see more chapters of this.
One of the things you're trying to put together for the later chapters is going to be tricky to put together in a good way and I'm not sure if I'll be able to help you much with it. But since shadow55419's also helping you (and he's certainly not bad at technical stuff either), maybe he'll be able to help you out here as well. Have you tried asking him about it?
HyperSonic
  Posted: Nov 21 2012, 07:00 PM


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@Meteor, thanks again for the proof-rereading part, I'll get into editing those chapters again later.
As for my problem with the plot involving my later plans I have asked Shadow an idea, and he suggested some stuffs that might work, but would hurt a bit with Speed Factory being a racing team much like Project D (if you know what I mean), but I'm thinking of using his suggestion though. I'll try to shoot you a PM later about his suggestion and tell me if there's no other way to make it work. I need more time with chapter 3 and 4 so please bare with me.
HyperSonic
  Posted: Jan 6 2013, 06:43 PM


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Sorry for the double post, I have edited the first two chapters as the experts have pointed out.
I also apologize for taking too long on this update, I was planning to post the 3rd chapter together with the 4th but I am having problem with a racing scene so I think the 3rd has to be posted alone and the 4th has to wait for the 5th.




Chapter 3 “Attack At Point Blank Range”

‘She has stuck her nose up my ass for quite some time now. She really has some balls to push through with this kind of strategy just to seal off my brake-feint.’ Sakai thought. ‘She’s brave but stupid. Sticking very close to me like this won’t give her any chance of attacking.' Sakai continued. 'You made this battle difficult for the both of us. But in the end your efforts are in vain, because there is no 2nd place.' He ended.

At the top of the mountain, "Sir, Nikki is glued to the Integra's bumper, if the opponent slows down they'll crash." One of Speed Factory's crew with binoculars said.

"Nikki, you have excelled in every aspect of racing, speed and control, courage and determination. I don't know the enemy's strategy to force you into this very dangerous situation, have you read his mind?" Ryujin asked aloud.

"Sir, what do you mean?" his crew asked.

"Nikki's been taught by her beloved father. As a chess enthusiast like her and her father, we apply chess principles in almost all aspects we can apply it to." Ryujin answered.

"Even street racing?"

"If you believe this is a battle, then yes you can apply principles of chess into it. You can incorporate these principles into your racing strategy to help you win." Ryujin explained.

"Like?"

"Read your opponents mind." Ryujin answered.

"Read their mind?"

"Observe every move your opponent makes, like his braking points, how long he brakes, throttle control, pacing, and racing line; with this you can guess intelligently what he's thinking. You can anticipate his every attack and thus you can formulate your own counter measure and plan your attack. But the real question now is has she read his mind? Is she defending or attacking? That we won't know until the race is over. And we just need to wait until they finish the 2nd half of the course." Ryujin explained.

Meanwhile, "You mean, Todo Juku might lose again!?" Seiji said surprised. He and Sudo had just arrived at the bottom of Enna Skyline.

"A friend of mine told me a new racing team just won against the Seven Star Leaf. They broke the locals' home course record and is only 2 tenths of a second shy of breaking the new course record set by Project D. If this is true, we can infer that this new team is at the same level as Project D, making it more possible for Todo Juku to lose again." Sudo explained. "And this new team, Speed Factory, has challenged Todo-Juku, and threatens to embarass the school yet again by pushing the school into a losing streak in its own home course." Kyouichi said.

'Come on Nikki, what's on your mind? Make your move. You don't have enough time to waste.' Ryujin thought.

At the track, Nikki wondered why Sakai wasn't reacting with the pressure she is putting on him. 'This is bad, if I can't make him move by putting pressure on him, how can I win? What would he do next?' Nikki thought as she continued to ride the DC2's bumper.

'I can feel her presence, I can feel the pressure burning the back of my head. It has been like this since the starting line. If I hadn't stopped looking at my mirrors she could have passed me by now.' He thought. "Don't look at the mirrors, never look at the mirrors." he told himself. "Since we brake and accelerate at the same time, and we follow the same line, I just need to stay on my rhythm till the end and I'll win.

For a few more minutes, Nikki stayed behind and waited for an opening, but none came. Nikki moved to the other lane to force the DC2 into moving but to her surprise it didn't. 'He isn't looking at his mirrors that's for sure.' With that in mind, she went back to the other lane, and continued to squeeze the space between their car's bumpers until there was almost none left. After few more corners she moved a bit to the other lane. Half of the RX8 was behind the Integra, and half of it was not. 'I have learned to ignore his tail lights so after defending for quite sometime it's now time for the offense. The attacking point is the next corner. If the attack is successful this is over.' She thought.

At the top of the mountain, "Sir, Nikki isn't following her usual racing line." A crew said.

"What do you mean not following her line?" Ryujin took the binoculars and looked at the cars racing up the track. "She's on attack mode, she's making her move. But why isn't the other car completely blocking her and just sticking to his own line?" Ryujin asked himself without taking off the binoculars from his eyes.

"Maybe, because that is a faster line." The crew answered instinctively.

"That is a faster line, unless..." Ryujin's eyes grew wide, accompanied with an excited smile. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Few seconds before her usual braking point, she eased on the pedal and slowed down a bit giving herself sufficient amount of space to make her move. At the braking point, the Integra's tail lights lit up, Nikki changed lane and accelerated avoiding a crash. Nikki then braked late on the inside thus having a higher entry speed than the opponent. The DC2 which entered the corner later than the RX8 accelerated as the outside lane allowed him to recover lost ground. 'How could she attack while sticking very close to my bumper? I braked when I thought she would, she didn't lose speed but continued to accelerate instead.' Sakai thought. Then it dawned on him, 'Brake-feint without the tail lights. I didn't think I would get a doze of my own medicine.'

Nikki stayed on the inside up until the exit of the turn and quickly took the lead then blocked for the rest of the course.
facepalm.gif

This post has been edited by HyperSonic on Sep 23 2014, 06:15 PM
shadow55419
Posted: Jan 7 2013, 12:01 AM


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first line: "She has" should probably be "She's had"
QUOTE
"Nikki's been taught by her beloved father. As a chess enthusiast like her and her father, we apply chess principles in almost all aspects we can apply it to." Ryujin answered.

should probably read "As a chess enthusiast like her father.." not sure what exactly what you were going for though.
Kyoichi doesn't have a 'u' in it...
"At the track" should probably be "On the track" instead.
"A crew said" should be "crew member (or man) said"
QUOTE
braking point, she eased on the pedal

should be "off the pedal"
and"Doze" in the last paragraph should be "dose".

not a bad story, still wondering where it might go in the long run.
HyperSonic
  Posted: Jan 7 2013, 12:39 AM


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@Shadow hope you can help me with a particular race scene for one of the next chapters, I'm having trouble detailing the point where she passes the opponent.
shadow55419
Posted: Jan 7 2013, 12:40 PM


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QUOTE (HyperSonic @ Today, 12:39 AM)
@Shadow hope you can help me with a particular race scene for one of the next chapters, I'm having trouble detailing the point where she passes the opponent.

message me the chapter i'll take a look and see what i can do.
Meteor
Posted: Jan 8 2013, 03:27 PM


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Would've replied sooner, but I had internet trouble last night.

QUOTE
first line: "She has" should probably be "She's had"

"She had" is past tense, which I don't think would fit well in that particular spoken line (where Sakai is referring to something that's more in the present). Personally, I'd have written it as "she's", but "she has" is also correct.
QUOTE
QUOTE
"Nikki's been taught by her beloved father. As a chess enthusiast like her and her father, we apply chess principles in almost all aspects we can apply it to." Ryujin answered.


should probably read "As a chess enthusiast like her father.." not sure what exactly what you were going for though.

Ryujin's saying that he, along with Nikki and her father, are all chess enthusiasts who apply chess principles wherever they can. Or at least I'm thinking that's what HyperSonic meant. If so, then "like her and her father" is correct here.
QUOTE
Kyoichi doesn't have a 'u' in it...

Actually, "Kyoichi" and "Kyouichi" are both correct. There are different methods of transliterating Japanese into English, and thus different but technically correct spellings for certain Japanese syllables and syllable-groups.
"Kyoichi" is the simplest (correct) way to write it in English, while "Kyouichi" is closer to how it'd be written in either hiragana or katakana.
QUOTE
"At the track" should probably be "On the track" instead.
"A crew said" should be "crew member (or man) said"

Not 100% sure if "At the track" is wrong (though I can see why it could be), but good catch on the "A crew said" part. I really should've caught that one during proofreading. . .
QUOTE
should be "off the pedal"
and"Doze" in the last paragraph should be "dose".

And I should've caught these too. Good catch again.


Anyway, fic's still interesting and I want to see what happens next. Keep it up. smile.gif
How's the next chapter coming along?
HyperSonic
  Posted: Jan 8 2013, 07:11 PM


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The next chapter (if I can't find a good way to make it work) would be a disaster. But, Shadow is helping me out right now and you also give pointers of your own (thanks to both of you). I guess I would be fine given some time to actually reorganize the whole chapter.
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Posted: Jan 10 2013, 04:38 AM


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Ohh..an update. Haven't been in here for days. I'm not gonna go in detail about that.

It's supposed to be "She has". Sakai was saying that in the race,so the tense used should be present because he was saying it.

You would certainly say "I'm washing my car now" instead of "I washed my car" when you're doing the action right?

Sonic, just msg me if you need my help too,I might not be good,but I might be of some help. The frustration you get when you know how the race is going but just can't find a way to express it in words. rage.gif

Please note that I might not be able to reply your msg in time,if my internet speed goes down to bytes per second,viewing a site will certainly be a pain in the neck.
HyperSonic
  Posted: Oct 1 2015, 07:05 PM


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It has taken me long time to post. It's just that I still like ID the same way I had liked it before, though some people say it's dead.

I am calling all my friends @Meteor and @Shadow...

Chapter 4 “Killer Crossover”
‘Winning is winning! I have seen Nikki defeat opponent after opponent with varying difficulty. She likes to win with long gaps between her and her rivals. It has been her custom to show how fast she really is. On the other hand I prefer that she wins by just a hair, exciting and extremely dangerous; even the slightest mistake might turn the dream into a disaster. But still she has managed to pull it off numerous times already against countless opponents in the circuit. This kind of win also prepares us against adversaries scouting our races. This is the reason behind Speed Factory using cars that are a bit underpowered. If her driving skills are complemented with really fast cars, she would be unstoppable, dangerously unstoppable, and too dangerous for her own good. But her win against Todo Racing School’s uphill driver is a bit of both, convincingly unquestionable, and beautifully dangerous. I can say that this is one of her best wins, it is one thing to win, but to win beautifully is quite another. She is one of the few that can win extravagantly even in an underpowered car.’ Ryujin thought after being baffled by the events which unfolded right before his eyes. “Bring out the downhill car,” he shouted. The whole crew worked efficiently and in no time the car is ready and is standing behind the starting line of the downhill waiting to be uncovered and boarded.

The RX8 arrived at the finish line first and Nikki parked it on the sidelines. “Can I take five minute break? I need to breathe.” Nikki said. “This level is way higher than the previous races.”

“Take ten. I’ll go and talk to the other guys.” Ryujin said as he walked over Todo’s side of the course. “Do we need to start the downhill right away?” He asked.

“It would be an advantage for us. But it won’t be a convincing win against her. Let her take a break. Her defeat can wait.” Daiki answered. ‘Even though she takes an hour of sleep, she won’t recover from the tension brought by the uphill race, and the level of competition in the downhill is too great that not all cars especially high powered ones are suited for the dive. It requires concentration and a lot of focus, in which she had used during her race against Sakai, she won’t recover enough for our downhill race, and her defeat is imminent.’ Daiki thought.

While Nikki was inside the van and took a nap, “Racing two races consecutively is a very foolish move, but I do not know how she managed during her race against the SSR, she isn’t an ordinary racer if she pulls this off again. Her trainer isn’t ordinary as well.” Kyouichi thought. “If she’s going against Todo Racing School’s downhill ace, she has to drive something agile to do that.” He ended.

Nikki got out of the van and went to her downhill mechanic. “Is everything set?” She asked.

“Just the way you wanted it. And I did some modifications on the exhaust and gearings so you’ll be hitting your power band on later rpms than the usual,” her mechanic answered. “They won’t know what you’re running in there until you hit the power band. You might not be able to hit it though since this is a downhill race with a lot of corners in it, but you can go all out on the second half of the course if you wanted to surprise them. By that time they’ll know you aren’t running a straight six under your hood and they can’t do anything about it anymore. They won’t know what hit them until it’s too late”

“Good,” she said. “Ryujin-san let’s race.” With that Nikki uncovered her car, a Marlboro red Box Skyline.

“Just like Project D their mockery knows no bounds. They are racing with only one driver and a lady at that. And they are putting this race on the hands of an obsolete and underpowered car. I’ll make them pay for that.” Daiki said.

“One advice don’t attack too soon, she’ll use the same attack to you when you are most vulnerable.” Sakai said.

“She won against you because of your cars weakness. It won’t happen to me.”

“Just heed my advice and don’t underestimate her, she’s unbelievably fast.”

“She might be fast but that Hako-suka doesn’t look like it.”

With that conversation adrenaline started to run through Dike’s body. He went to Ryujin and asked. “Can we do this like the way Project D raced with us? Two round leader-chaser rules.”

“I disagree, drawing the race to an endurance race would be very much disadvantageous to us, since we are racing with the same driver from the uphill, and the rule will stay the same, side by side start sudden death. I think you will find it easy to defeat an already exhausted driver.” Ryujin declined.

“Ok then I was just suggesting,” Daiki replied.

The EK9 and the PGC10 lined up side by side at the starting line. ‘Don’t underestimate her. Don’t underestimate her.’ Sakai kept repeating it while he looks at Daiki preparing to race.

“You know the drill,” Ryujin said. Nikki smiled and rolled up her window.

‘Unlike when I raced against Project D I can feel something’s different with the driver. On her case I can’t feel anything. It feels like she’s just nothing, even though she miraculously won against Sakai. She can’t be at par with Fujiwara, even though she drives an obsolete underpowered car. She won’t win by just driving an underpowered car she will need some serious skills to even keep up with me, I won’t let her win.’ Daiki thought.

The countdown started and the race began. Daiki hard headedly gave the lead to the Skyline. ‘He’s doing it again, trying to study his opponent from behind.’ Sakai thought. ‘I hope he isn’t forgetting that this is a sudden death race. There won’t be a second round.

“I don’t need to study my opponent. She isn’t special in anyway. She’s just one lucky lady with more balls than brains. I just want to show her how far our skills are on the downhill, I’ll win by passing her not by staying in front blocking the duration of the race, I just have to be behind by half a car length by the time we have the reached the point of attack. Taking the lead in that particular section would require extreme precision.” Daiki said as he trails behind the Hakosuka and is bored to death following a slower opponent whose car is not making a lot of power.

For few corners the Hakosuka led easily because the EK9 isn’t making any move to retake the lead. At the entrance of a straightway the EK9 started to accelerate and was side by side with the Skyline during the process. At the entrance of the corner the EK9 easily took the lead because he is on the inside lane, but the Skyline didn’t give up she pushed the accelerator more compensating on her disadvantageous outside lane during a side by side cornering, thus making them equal again at the exit of the said corner. The side by side race has continued until the next corner wherein the PGC10 is on the inside lane and took the lead having less distance to cover. The EK9 gave up on the attack, and once again trailed behind the Hako for half of the course.

“That S-section is never a good place to try that attack especially if you don’t over power your opponent. This tells me a bit of what is under her hood, straight six cylinders with twin turbo, there’s no other way to have that power, to easily tie with me in corners while she is on the outside.” Daiki said. “Since I can’t beat her straight up, might as well show everything I’ve got and let’s see how she adjusts.

At the second hairpin of the second half of the course, “He disappeared from my mirrors,” a not so surprised Nikki was smiling. The EK9 reappeared beside the Skyline and sped past her.

“After Tomoyuki san taught me the disappearing line, I have learned to adopt it into my racing style, mastered it perfectly but has to work on its timing if I want to go pro. Only inexperienced racers fall under this attack, and now I know for sure that you are one of them.” Daiki said. At the exit of the said hairpin the EK9 took the lead. The Box Skyline tried to retake the lead during the straight but the EK9 just blocked by changing lanes as to where the PGC10 is.

“This is my last chance.” Nikki said. “You are not the only one who saw that race between the pro and the Ghost 86 of Akina. I saw his counter, his adaptation of the vanishing line. Now I’m going to use my own version of the vanishing line combining the original and Fujiwara’s adaptation.” She turned off her headlights while attempting to go to the outside lane. The EK9 instinctively blocked the outside lane even though he is not seeing the car. A corner came up and the Skyline stayed on the inside with her lights off. The EK9 stuck on the outside getting ready for the turn and initiate an out-in-out line. At the entrance of the corner the Skyline pushed through with her lights off, and with a loud roar from her engine she cut through Daiki’s line. Daiki initiated the out-in-out line without seeing the Skyline in the process of cutting through Daiki’s line. Daiki hit something solid while trying to reach the apex of the curve as near to the guardrail as possible. He knows he hasn’t reached the guardrail yet, and then what was that he just hit? At the moment of impact the Hakosuka reappeared in the inside by turning on her headlights. Daiki, surprised with the sudden reappearance of the PGC10 had to step on the brakes to avoid a much destructive crash. The Civic was left on the dust as the Skyline sped to the exit of the corner. The EK9 tried to catch up with the leader.

“I blocked her line only to discover it is not her line.” Daiki was a bit bewildered. He focused on the task at hand. He needs to regain his lead for the race is coming to its end. ‘Takumi’s disappearing line with your own twist huh. You almost killed me with that crossover through my line. You really have more balls than brains. Very brave, very brave indeed.’

At the side lines after the exit of the said corner, a man with a blank expression was standing beside his over excited girlfriend. “Is that?” She asked.

“Yes,” her boyfriend answered. “There’s no doubt about it, from where we came from there is only one car that has that color and produces that noisy sound while hitting the power band.”

“Fukushima’s Downhill Dynamo.” She said. “Seeing them race this close is much more thrilling than watching them racing from afar. The circuit has less excitement due to the predictability of the racing environment,” She added. Then the EK9 passed by them, “and that is?”

“I don’t know, I have no idea, probably the opponent, but I thought their target is Project D, I, however don’t recall seeing an EK9 on Project D’s website. This must be one of the practice races required to prepare them for the showdown against Project D.” The unknown guy said. “A test run maybe, if they can’t get past these kinds of opponents they won’t be ready for Project D.”

The gap just grew wider every passing corner. No sooner than the race began Todo Juku suffered another defeat tarnishing their entire racing record.

Back at the starting line, “That is a move I don’t expect from her.” Ryujin awaits her return.
____________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5 “Very High Level”

At the top of the mountain, Ryujin shouts orders. “Pack it up everybody, we’re
done here, we’re going home.

The EK9 and the PGC10 has returned.

“What happened down there? That perfectly timed disappearing line of yours gave you the lead, right? Then how come you lost?” Todo Juku’s director asked Daiki.

“Just like what Sakai said, this girl is fast. Much faster than we expected. I guess we kept on underestimating our opponents based on their cars. We may be fast but we must always remember there are lot fast drivers out there. We may have the home course advantage but we have been shown twice in a row that the advantage given by the home course is not enough to win races if it is your only advantage.” Daiki answered. “They are on a much higher level than Sakai and I, probably even at par with Project D.”

“Let this be a lesson to all of you. Especially you two.” The director closed.

Sakai and Daiki was left alone. Sakai asked details of the race. “Do you remember Tomoyuki’s race against Fujiwara?” Daiki asked.

“Yeah,”

“Then you surely remember Fujiwara’s adaptation of the blind attack.”

“How can anyone forget that insane technique? Racing through a mountain pass at night with the headlights off.”

“She knows how to do it too, and with her twist. It is a bit of a combination of Tomoyuki’s and Fujiwara’s disappearing line, but with something else. It feels like she forced me to block nothing or I just thought I was blocking something since she disappeared because she turned off her headlights and she drove through my line catching me off guard, because I thought I had block her racing line. It’s misdirection of the vanishing line.” Daiki was still in shock.

“Misdirection of the vanishing line.” Sakai repeated. “I don't know of such a thing. It seems impossible to me”

“Don't get me wrong here Sakai, I just came up with that name because it pretty much sums up what kind of very high level passing technique she got there under her sleeves. If you want to know exactly how it works, I’ll describe it to you while having a question and answer portion with you.”

“Sure.”

“She turned off her headlights while trying to pass me attempting it on the outside lane. What will you do?”

“I’ll block the outside lane while I am still in the lead and continue to block to maintain the lead.”

“Common sense, tells you right away and you follow suit, I am only speculating here since I do not know how she did it, this is just the easiest explanation I can wrap my head on, I think she didn’t go to the outside lane really. You are blocking an imaginary PGC10. She basically forced you into the outside lane though she isn’t there.”

“Hence the misdirection in this technique’s name. She misdirected you to the outside lane.”

“Not near enough. It was just part of it. If you are in the outside lane your blind spot can be seen clear enough. Remember that her headlights are off and only your headlights are on. You can only see what can be illuminated by your headlights. And definitely right beside you is not part of it. In the inside she stays on your blind spot, just right off the part of the road in which you can see. The corner comes up and you are more concerned at turning than blocking, and since you are on the outside lane,”

“I’ll take the out-in-out line.”

“You totally forgot about blocking her, you forgot she may have changed lane, your attention is misdirected away from her and to the upcoming corner.”

“Misdirection,”

“Exactly. Using the inside she stuck half a car length and you hit her going to dive into the inside. She then reappears at the same time turning her lights on. She disappeared because she stayed on your blind spot and at the same time turned off her lights giving no trace as to where she is. The perfect vanishing line. A very sick move and very effective at that. With me hitting her on my effort to go inside, I unknowingly helped her achieve a slower line even though she is driving in high speed. A line that can only be achieved in low speed corners and can be used to pass the opponents effortlessly using the in-in-out racing line.” Daiki is feeling an icy cold chill crawl up his spine as he tried to explain in detail how he got passed by a much older Skyline. “I can’t believe I am impressed by that move. I wonder who would win if she has to race Fujiwara now.”

Speed Factory is putting back the cars on the trailers and everything else they used for the race. “How’d you do it? The Hakosuka’s mechanic asked. “Did you read his mind? Just like what Ryujin said?” The mechanic said as Ryujin draw nearer to them.

“No, I made him think the opposite of what I’m thinking.” She answered and left going towards the van to rest.

The mechanic looked bewildered and gave Ryujin a quizzical stare.

“There are different levels of thinking in a chess game. Reading your opponent’s mind is the basic foundation of all these and is also considered the lowest level, they do it to avoid attacks or defend for an impending and unavoidable attack. Minimizing the damage to be possibly taken. The next level is thinking the unthinkable, things that the opponent might not be thinking. These are possible points of attack to be exploited since it is unlikely to be thought of the opponent it is also possible that defenses against those points of attack are not up.” Ryujin explained.

“Which one did Nikki use?”

“Neither, many known chess enthusiasts believe that there is this thinking technique in between the two levels I have mentioned. But I have proven it to be a wrong theory. What they are pointing out is merely a combination of the two levels which is a more precise method of beating the opponent.”

“I see, by reading the opponent’s mind, you can clearly know what they are not thinking, therefore having a clear picture of where to attack.”

“That's right but as always there is always a wild card. A very high level of thinking in which you force a thought into your opponents mind. This can be called inception. You make your opponent think what you want him to think. Not all chess players have the ability to reach this level of thinking.”

“So Nikki made him think what she want him to think.”

“Yes and no. She made him think what she want him to think what she is thinking. It might not sound making any sense, but take note that if Nikki made him think what she is going to do, he could have taken a more direct approach to seal the overtaking Skyline, but since she made him think of what she is thinking, the EK9 took a defensive position and plans to attack once she blocked the possible incoming attack which he has to guess when and where it would be coming.”

“Then which one is it really?”

“I don't know, but as it seems it is on a very high level. And you have to realize that even though we call it levels of thinking, each level have its own weakness and are therefore vulnerable and can be approached from any of the said levels. There is no such thing as the absolute and ultimate technique. A counter offensive is possible, depending on the degree of mental alertness of the opponent, but since it is a fast paced race the opponent has to immediately react and doesn’t have the time to think what counter measures he can deploy, he was caught off guard and had no choice but to hit the brakes due to the surprise.”

With that the Speed Factory bagged another win. Enna Skyline is conquered and they move on to the next leg of expedition.
____________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6 “Sorcerer of One Hand Steering”

After a win by Keisuke Takahashi on the mixed stage supposed to be hill climb race. God arm Toshiya Joshima with his Honda S2000 is going to take on the fastest downhiller from Gunma, Takumi Fujiwara and the Ghost ’86 of Akina. The cars had their engines started and with the idle sound of the machines Ryosuke Takahashi, master tactician of Project D went to Takumi for instructions, would the instructions make sense just like it did on his battles against the Todo School and the Northern Saitama Alliance?

“I want you to listen to me Takumi. I’m going to be straight with you. The guy you are going up against is far in a way the best you have ever faced, not a chink in his armor. I only have one piece of advice for you before you roll off,” a pause. A pause that gives more stress to the tension than the words itself. “Tough it out. You might not think you can win, if you stick to your guns you might actually pull this off. I’ll be able to say more later but now I want you to concentrate on the road and not your opponent. Remember you are not racing a man, you’re racing a ghost. Don’t forget that.” Ryosuke ended as he shouted orders to Fumihiro to light them up and get the race going.

“The countdown started…. The race has begun; Purple Shadow chose to be the chaser.” One of the bystanders had his radio shouting like crazy.

“And so it has begun. The gods of Ibaraki are going head to head against Project D. I am wondering if Project D can actually win this time.” Sakai said.

“I didn’t know that the Purple Shadow has racers that we should be concerned about even if Project D would set their eyes on them, why would they draw that much attention. Even the chief would want us to see this race.” Daiki responded.

“Daiki, what you don’t know can fill a library. Both of the guys Project D is battling today are drivers chief would take his hat off any day.” Sakai answered. “Chief told me something. He said everything that makes Joshima such a racing legend is his steering technique which is just pretty damn impressive. The unique thing about it is that he leaves his left hand on the shifter and uses only his right hand to steer. I don’t know about you but I haven’t heard of anybody who can do that.” Sakai started off explaining the reason why the chief of Todo School wanted them to see the race between the Purple Shadow and Project D.
The racers continue their trek towards the bottom. The 86 is leading the downhill for the first run. Takumi turned the steering wheel for a left hander and skidded in his chosen line.

“Yeah, but I don’t understand, what’s the purpose of it? I’d feel all kinds of weird if I had to steer without holding the wheel with both hands.” Daiki said while motioning himself holding and steering using two hands. “Wait a sec,” Daiki realized something. “If the guy’s using only one hand to steer with, then he’s going to run into corners of the mountain where he won’t be able to spin the wheel enough to turn the car. The pass is full of places like that it’s the whole point of this kind of races.” Daiki exclaimed.

“That’s why the guy’s nickname is god arm; he is called the sorcerer of the steering wheel for a good freaking reason.” Sakai explained.

The 86 is being pushed to the limit and Takumi is getting worried if he would be able to win this time. ‘This guy is freaking fast.’ Takumi thought.

Inside the S2000, Joshima is not surprised but more like impressed. ‘Just like I figured, this kid’s pretty good.’ As he pushed his car more to stick his bumper up to 86’s rear bumper some more. Another left hander came up and the S2000 followed the 86’s line with minimal effort.

“That’s it; he’s got to be drifting.” As Daiki tried to explain a possible way to turn with minimal wheel spin. “I know it’s a difficult technique to master, but the minimal steering of a zero counter drift he could pull it off.”

“He probably could. But Joshima doesn’t do any drifting maneuvers at all. He’s got a different style altogether. It’s somewhere between drifting and gripping.” Sakai replied.

“Wait, he splits between drift and gripping?” Daiki can’t believe his ears. “You mean that it isn’t either one of them?”

At the bottom of the race track. Kozo ‘god foot’ Hoshino, master of the pedals gathered some of the fastest racers of Purple Shadow and gives them a lecture.

“All of you seem to think Joshima’s one handed steering technique is a weird thing to do. But it makes a hell of a lot more sense than you might think it does. You just need to know how little you got to steer in order to turn the car. And after 20 years of solid practice, Joshima has just about perfected it.” Hoshino explains the theory behind the one handed steering of god arm. “He had to put a lot thought into this; he didn’t get to where he is just by winging it. This was all carefully planned. He’ll swear up and down that what his doing out there isn’t drift or grip but something else. But if you’re asking me, I’ll say what the guy’s doing is the ideal drift.” Hoshino said.

The downhill continued in a bumper to bumper state. The S2000 sticking itself to the 86’s bumper like super glue. No matter how hard Takumi tried to run away from the chasing Honda he just can’t seem to shake the S2000 off his tail.

“The best high level techniques are the ones you can do when your opponent’s not expecting it. Tires are always at their best when they have the G’s pushing down on them and when their on the verge of skidding and the pressure is perfect it makes the car sail like it’s on the wind. My guess is the guy is letting his tires skid a little just enough that it’s almost imperceptible. It’s only a theory but it’s the only way I can wrap my head around it.” Sakai said.

“Alright, I probably couldn’t do it myself. But if there is a mix of drift and grip that’d be it.” Daiki responded to Sakai’s theory.

“Chief knows all about it. The Todo School and Purple Shadow had been rivals for a long time. Not a lot of secrets anymore. We’ve gone head to head with their younger members at circuits, street gatherings, whatever you name it and we’ve been there and raced them hard. But the elite from the Purple Shadow going for broke on the street, if we miss the opportunity to see this, we may never get the chance to see it again in our lifetimes. You know what I think chief is trying to tell us? Watch those guys like a hawk. Keep your eyes on every single thing that god arm Joshima and god foot Hoshino do.” Sakai finally explained the reason why the Todo chief asked them to go and see the race between the Purple Shadow and Project D.

“So Fumihiro, question, you remember a guy called Shingo Shoji who races with the Night Kids? He is the one with the penchant for gum-tape death matches. And in those races only a steering wheel with limited range is allowed, it’s part of the challenge, that way you turn by using your accelerator, it’s tough. But I’m willing to bet that Joshima’s signature one handed steering technique probably has its roots in the same theory as gum-tape death matches. The two techniques may even be one and the same; only Joshima’s version is more complete, more refined.” Ryosuke is giving his own talk with Fumihiro and Matsumoto as his listeners.

“But I don’t get it. I mean, what’s the point of it besides from letting your left hand concentrate on the shift work, it sure doesn’t seem all of that important.” Fumihiro is giving a quizzical look at Ryosuke.

“If you want the real answer to that question then I suppose you got to ask Joshima himself. I am not saying it’s not unusual, it is. And it probably wouldn’t benefit most racers, but one of the top drivers in the WRC used to utilize the same technique, and he was the best in his class.” Ryosuke answered Fumihiro.

The dive continued. The first run is intense and Fujiwara is doing his best to stay in his rhythm in spite of the pressure being given by the S2000 driving right behind him. “Something about this race feels so familiar. I know this kind of pressure. The kind that sticks every time to your nape. It’s like my dad’s back there in the Impreza breathing down my neck.” Takumi feels too much pressure jut by sensing the presence of the car Joshima is driving right behind him.
10,000 rpm, 11,000 rpm, and then the 86 upshifted to fourth. An s-curve came up, then a right hander. Takumi and the doctor down shifted for the turn. The 86 drifted while the S2000 just flew through the corner.

“I can’t exactly tell you who’s going to win it. It wouldn’t be easy. It isn’t just like this thing is going to wrap up in just a run or two. It’s not a long course but all the hooks and corners make it tough and there aren’t many straight shots to catch a good rhythm. This is going to turn into a long battle whether they wanted to or not. But if it was over fast, and don’t get me wrong Kenta, I’m putting a chunk load of stress on the word IF here. Then Takumi would probably lose. Don’t get hysterical. All I’m saying is that Takumi’s best bet of winning is dragging this out as long as he can. I just hope he realizes that. The other guy is going to be leading the next run that’s the one that would be the key to the win, so if Fujiwara can just keep his act together for a little while longer that’ll give himself a long race he needs to snag a victory.” Keisuke gives Kenta his own piece of thought about the race. “When you’ve been in this many battles as I have you start to develop a sixth sense for these kinds of things. No matter how vicious this battle looks to the rest of us, all those two have been doing out there is trading a couple of light jabs.”

The 86 and the S2000 has gone bumper to bumper since the start of the race. The S2000 following the 86 line and doing all sort of things just not to get left behind. As fast as they have been going in the downhill the 86 and the S2000 disappeared on a right hander as quickly as they had entered it. “Holy crap. Damn. This is freaking incredible. I’ve never thought seeing Joshima racing against Project D’s 86. Have you ever seen something slide that faster on a curve before? Man, seeing this two manage trying to knock each other down is killer.” Some of the boys on the galleries just can’t hold it in anymore; they are pumped up by the sounds of the engines and the screech of the tires. Plus the fact that a god of Ibaraki is right there behind one of the steering wheels battling it down the mountain pass.

“So, how do you think it would end?” Ryujin asked Nikki standing right beside him in the shadows in the woods.

“This might end up either way. But I wish the 86 would drag it to an endurance battle. It might save me the trouble and time trying to find his weakness. Well at least if the race is long enough I might find his weakness even before we challenge Purple Shadow. I don’t care if Project D or Purple Shadow wins, I just want to see a long race tonight.” Nikki answered.

“I think that would be the only way you can win against a god. Find his weakness and exploit it even if it’s just a few. But I wonder, if Joshima has any weakness at all, why would he be called a god?” Ryujin inquired.

“There are those people they call demi-gods. You know part human and part god and stronger than both. Maybe Ryosuke doesn’t just have double aces but double demi-gods as well. Keisuke defeated a god a while ago if you hadn’t noticed.” Nikki added.

‘You may be right. But whatever the results of this race we will still race the Purple Shadow.’ Ryujin thought.’I really admire your confidence, and how you see things differently on your own perspective. You might need it someday, all you have to do is do what you are doing now. Believe in yourself.’ Ryujin is deep in thought as he stares at Nikki watching the S2000 move.

The 86 and the S2000 are still virtually over each other. “The first run’s almost over, damn it that pressure. It’s been breaking me down this whole time, I can’t shake it.” Takumi is flustered with how much pressure this old doctor can apply to him while racing a high speed high stakes race.

“Perfect, I got to watch your every move on this first run.” Dr Joshima thought. And with that ended the first run.

Back up at the starting line the S2000 and the 86 switch places. The countdown started and off they went diving with all their speed. The sound of tires screeching can be heard throughout the mountain pass. “There goes the second run,” Ryujin said.

“Two runs aren’t long enough to pull a win against these gods. This isn’t a really long course.” Nikki said.

At the galleries, Sakai continues to give Daiki some free special lessons about the race happening right there and then. “The S2000 is a crazy hard vehicle to master but its specs are all high-end, I mean freaking perfect. And I remember the chief telling me one time that when it corners it’s even faster than the NSX. So if you put a seasoned driver like Joshima behind the wheel of that bad boy, there’s no reason on planet earth that she’ll ever lose to an 86.”

“Do you really think so?” Daiki asked.

“Without doing anything special, just by driving as normally as he would any other day, Joshima would fly around this course faster than the ’86 can keep up with. It wouldn’t even matter if the ’86 had some badass turbo under the hood. This would be a blood bath. I mean, I’m no expert but that’s what I’m thinking the second run would look like. But still what’s normal in this situation isn’t exactly what’s normal on any conventional sense. No, with 2 crazy drivers like these, who knows what to expect?” Sakai answered.

“Yeah, specially the driver of the ’86. He’s a weird one. He’s go this raw natural talent but only those who drive against him can feel it. More than anything Fujiwara fits that ’86 like a glove always has. It’s like he was born to drive it or was built for him, but either way, the perfection.” Daiki has admired the 86 and Takumi’s partnership ever since he lost against them.

The S2000 leading the dive has been raising the pace at which they are driving bit by bit. And the closer they get to the finish line, the faster they become.

Ryosuke continues his lecture, “it might be an NA the F20 type engine cranks at 120 lbs of horse power per liter. It’s got the V-TEC unit which puts even the latest models to shame and makes the ’86 look like a waste of metal. That’s easily the biggest threat to Fujiwara. But the true value of the S2000 lies in its unique handling ability. You see the engine is mounted in the front-mid position realizes the ideal 50-50 weight distribution. The car also has an ex-bone frame with high body integrity. After few minutes behind the wheel you’ll forget you’re driving a roadster. Plus she sits on top of a light-weight and compact in-wheel double wishbone suspension system. Her potential was installed using orthodox methods and not with electronic gadgets. They didn’t use any of the modern technological methods used so often in auto-construction today, this is a classic piece of machinery. All the turbos and 4-wheel drives in the world mean nothing to her, out on that course she owns everything. But one thing almost everyone agrees on is that in the end the car selects its driver.”

“What you’re saying is that it takes an enormous amount of skill to even come close to mastering a vehicle like that.” Fumihiro responded.

“Hmmm” Ryosuke nodded. “Knowing that car’s limits would be a god-sent. Only a select handful of the most skilled and talented drivers in the world would ever have the privilege of understanding that vehicle.”

“Then Joshima ‘god-arm’ Toshiya is without a doubt one of those drivers. Fujiwara is out there burning track with an absolute beast of an opponent.”

Fumihiro is a little more worried than ever. He finally understands that this might be a wall they’re facing and they might not be able to scratch the surface.
The downhill battle continues and the gap between the S2000 and the 86 hasn’t changed at all.

“This second run is really turning into something intriguing. I know Joshima pretty well and I got a good idea what kind of scheme he’s cooked up for this kid.” Hoshino is continues his own version of lessons for the Purple Shadow’s young bloods.

“So you’re saying it’s a scheme, but if Joshima’s in front all he has to do is out run the guy. Why doesn’t he just stick to doing that and end it now?” Joshima’s newly found disciple asked.

“You don’t get it, trust me they kid’s a lot more screwed up than you realize. He is usually all calm and collected but put him up against an opponent with a little skill and he slips in some bad habits. If he just wanted to say ‘screw it all’ and go for broke on his home course he can easily out distance any opponent in no time. He knows every inch of this course like the back of his hand. There’s not a pro who can come up on our turf and beat us.” Hoshino just said the plain truth because the one who beat him was not a pro.

The downhill race starts to build more tension to both racers. And their pace just keeps on rising. From corner to corner the 86 uses all remaining traction and every lb of horsepower to stick to an almost invincible S2000. “This is killing me.” Takumi Fujiwara feels the pressure even though he is the one chasing. Any high level driver can put pressure to their opponents anywhere anytime. Leading or chasing doesn’t matter the pressure to their opponents are always on. “I don’t have anything left to give.” Fujiwara is giving it his all just to keep up with a speeding S2000.

“I only say this for the sake of Joshima’s reputation. But if the winner isn’t decided by the end of the second run of this battle, then I think he might be trying to engineer this whole night so that he wins while chasing. That’s kind of the way he is sometimes.” Hoshino knows Joshima better than any other Purple Shadow there is.

“No way,” of the Purple Shadow apprentice said.

“What?” another one said. “I’ve never thought that the good doctor knows better than to try something as dumb as that. Passing the ’86 on a course with no straight-aways. What the hell?! Does he have a deathwish?”

“Maybe” Hoshino replied, “but that’s exactly what he’s planning on doing. I’m telling you, he’s got issues.”

Meanwhile, on the downhill, the Honda S2000 cruises through a tight righthander and the Sprinter 86 struggles to clear the corner with the same speed but still clears it nevertheless which resulted to a fraction of a second loss. “I didn’t notice this while I was leading earlier, but he’s running different lines. I thought I already found the best line to follow. And he’s not anywhere close. The timing he uses for sticking to the inside is always earlier or later than what I would use. It’s the opposite of everything I’ve been taught. But is that the right thing to do on this course? If it’s not, then how the hell is he getting that kind of speed?” Takumi is confused to the very core of being.

‘You know Ryosuke, I keep thinking about what you told Takumi before he started tonight. Takumi’s greatest weapon might be his ability to absord the skills of his opponents as he is following them. But what you said to him doesn’t make any sense. What do you mean when you called Joshima a ghost?’ Matsumoto thought.
Takumi tries to follow Joshima’s line and it only resulted to him being left behind a little bit more on every corner. “I don’t get any of these? How can he stay on those screwed up lines and still be so fast?” The confusion is starting to take its toll.

This post has been edited by HyperSonic on Oct 3 2015, 03:16 AM