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it's astonishing when it's not in a fat, ugly and luxurious R33 or R34. in a light, almost spartan R32 it's divine.

OK, without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 10: Moving On

"Thank you, sir!" Itsuki said to the car that was just leaving. We just started getting new employees a week ago. They were two freshmen filling Takumi's and Itsuki's spots. "Yo!" I yelled, "The owner's coming in for a quick check! I want Ryu on cleaning in the garage, and Jonouichi, you've got the lounge." It was around 6 PM, and it was closing time. Then, Kenji came up in his 180SX. Then, the most amazing woman since I laid eyes on Mako stepped out of the passenger's side. "Guys," he said, "This is Eriko!"

"Uwaaaah!" Itsuki yelled, "Kenji!!" "Pleased to meet you two!" she said, "I just came here from Tokyo a week ago, and I ran into Kenji!" "She's awesome!" Kenji preached, "She knows as much about cars as I do! She also knew the Blackbird from the Wangan circuit!" "It really, wasn't, nothing," she said turning red, "We were just, friends, y'know!" "How'd you know him?" I asked. "Enough of that!" Kenji said, "I promised to take her up to the touge tonight for a little winter run!" "Downhill Killer will be there!" Itsuki said, with pride and confidence, "You will not be disappointed, madam!"

* * *

"I wonder how Natsuki's doing?" I thought, driving my assigned truck with furniture across the Gunma area, "I've been driving so much, I don't even know what's going on in my own town. I've been moving so fast recently, I don't even know what's going on." "Takumi!" my partner said, "You okay, man?" "Uh, yeah," I replied, "Just tired." "Still racing?" "Uh-huh," I told him, "Hopefully I'll get something out of it." I chuckled, and then wondered if I really was getting something out of it.

"I'm home!" I yelled to my dad, who was at the fryer frying tofu for a customer. "Hey," he replied handing me a bag with tofu in it, "Why don't you go up and give the guy his tofu." "Sure, dad," I said, going up to the counter in the front.

"That'll be 340 yen, sir," I told the man giving him his tofu, "Thank you." No," he replied, "Thank you! I've been looking for you for God knows how long!" "Uhh..." "I've been watching you, Takumi." "Who the hell are you?" I asked the man irritably, "And why have you been watching me?" "Oh!" he said, "I'm sorry! Didn't mean it that way! Have you gotten any offers to race yet?" "Not any that really wow me," I said to him, "Why? Are you one of those racing teams?" "Hit it right on the head, my boy!" he replied with cheer.

"Name's Kousuke Kida, Mad K for those in the know." "Haven't heard of you," I replied. "Have you heard of Signal Auto out of Chiba City?!" "Nope," I stated bluntly. "You drive like a god, but you haven't heard of Signal Auto?" "No." Kida then bowed his head in disgust, and quickly regained composure. "Just check us out online!" He then handed me his card. "Okay..." I said. "I'll be watching!" Kida said, going out to a modified Fairlady Z. He was gone after I turned back.

I went into the den, and jumped onto the computer. "If these guys are good," I thought, "They ought to have a large parts company." I went on and saw cars drifting, running road courses and drag racing. They also had a serious Nissan parts business, mainly for the 180SX and Silvia models. "Okay, that's different."

"It's been weird," I said to Ryousuke at the top of Akagi the next day, "Ever since we all ended with Project D, I've been getting calls to join teams of all sorts." "Really," Ryousuke said with interst, "What teams?" "Any of them from D1 or Super GT?" Keisuke asked, smoking a cigarette, "I myself have gotten a few from companies like Cusco, Falken, Yukes, and a few American teams."

"Yeah," I replied, "I got accepoted for a few D1 teams, but mostly for rally racing. Subaru said that they'd get me a fully-custom WRX ready for me if I just told them I'd think about it." "What about D1 teams?" Ryousuke asked me. "I've been asked to join a few teams," I told him, "A few of them that I showed interest in include Signal Auto, Top Secret, and HKS." "Well, if I were you," Ryousuke told me, "I'd try to do rally racing. It's more your speed, while professional drifting is a showoff-type event; more control-based. In rally, there are lengthy stages in a multi-day race, while in drift battle, the races last only about a few seconds, and are in a bracket-racing setup. If I were you, I'd go for the WRC position, but keep the others as a backup plan."

"Well," I said, taking a sip of my soda, "I gotta go. See you guys at the next round in, uh, where again?" "Okinawa United States Air Force Base's home track," Keisuke said, "Just don't get in my way." I got into my dad's GC8V, due to the fact that the 86 was in the shop for an oil change; Ryousuke told me to do this to hopefully let the engine live longer. It had to be about 9 PM, when I was halfway down the mountain and a yellow demon rolled out of the bare February trees.

"Damn," I said, "In Akina, the black ice is melted, but here its still on the roads. Ah, hell with it. It aint that hard." There was someone coming up fast. "Is that Keisuke?" I first thought, then I heard the engine. It was a hellish roar, like the sound of Takeshi's RB26, but only louder and more pronounced. "It can't be...his car's at a higher RPM." The car then flashed its lsights and signaled me to turn off the road.

I pulled over, and then the other car pulled behind me. We then botyh turned off our engines, but not before the yellow machine spewed flames. I opened my door first, and then the door opened to the other car. "Shit!" a female voice said, "Same license plate, same car, but not the same driver. Who the hell are you?" A young girl then stepped out. She was about my age. There was something about her, though. She seemed, familiar.

ooh, nice.. is it 20B?

Nah Mazda is where it's at engine-wise. They've got [well, used to] the 13B godly if unreliable engine and the new Mazdaspeed 3 is quick as hell. Nissan has done some good work but Mazda got to the rotary first, so they're best in my book. Guess it's cause I value lightweightedness and compactness so much...

not to mention overheating problems and swapping apex seals.. It's a phenomenal engine when maintained well, but it's performance comes with bit too high price for my liking.

OK, after these chapters, I'm probably gioing to have to gon a hiatus for a few weeks; I'm unfortunately going to have to pull my grades out of the gutter.

So, as promised, the double feature is here!

Chapter 12: 246 Heartbreaker

"Who are you?" I asked, "And where have you seen my car?" "No," she replied to me, "I should be asking you that question." "Well then," I said to the girl, "I'm Fujiwara Takumi. This isn't my car. It's my dad's." "So that's who it was that kicked my ass in Akina," she said with anger. "Now answer me!" I said to her, "Who the hell are you, and what's going on?" "Okay," she said, sitting on the hood of her car, "I'll tell you what I was doing."

"The other day, I heard a rumor about a 1980s American car known as a Camaro running on Mount Akina," she said, "I was running up and down that mountain with my JZA80 Supra for three days with no avail. I saw no Camaro, but only a dark blue Subaru WRX model GC8V." She looked down as the ground, as if she was being forced to testify for a murder victim's family, "It was so damn fast."

"That's my dad," I said to her, "He's been racing for about 20 years." "Wow," she said, with arms crossed, "That's impressive; an old fart like that ripping up the roads of Akina like that." "Now, tell me," I stated, "What's your name?" "Rika Nonaka," she said, "But that is not who I'm known by. My car, the 246 Heartbreaker is what I'm famous for." She looked over her shoulder at her car. "I used to run on Wangan, but I stopped after my first car, a Trueno AE86 with a twin-turbo 4AG got wrecked." "I've got a Trueno, also!" I said in surprise that she had one, "AE86, but it's not a turbo model. I run that on the touge while racing for Project D. Wait, what's the Wangan?"

"You haven't heard of the Wangan?" Rika said, in a confused tone, "Well, it's a freeway in the Tokyo area which is used as a high-speed drag strip that can go on for miles and miles. Some of the best racers have cars with over 1000 horsepower." "I do remember Ryousuke stating that he and his brother would be running a freeway with other rotary drivers on his new project team, Rotary Revolution." "Wait," she said while letting out a laugh, "You mean the Rotary Revolution? R.R.? I beat all of them already. They were an easy team; obviously no skill." She seemed arrogant, and she also seemed unimpressed by Ryousuke's team.

"It's like me and my transfer to the touge," She looked at her car, "This car originally had about 800 horsepower in the 2JZE engine, but I detuned it for running these hairpins; it now makes a more controllable 525 horsepower. I also adjusted the camber so I could drift with ease. Along with that, I then stiffened up the springs and raised the car by five centimeters to get a better road handling setup. I'm also using a single turbo setup instead of the twin turbo setup to control the throttle with ease. I still seem to spin out when attempting to drift about a tenth of the time." "Did you do any steering adjustments?" I said. "Like what?" "Like making the steering radius larger. I had that done to my car, and it makes drifting a lot easier, especially with your camber setup." I was amazed at myself; Had I learned this much in such a short time?

* * *

I was shocked; could a kid like him exist, and if he was legit, was he really my brother? It made me wonder this and all these other questions, too. All I know is how to drive fast and drive like the "250-mph Queen of the Wangan" I'm said to be. This is my passion, and it's all I know that keeps my father alive.

My mom was seventeen when she had me and my twin (I still don't belive that I've got a twin) brother. The only details that she ever told me was that he drove a fast car on the Wangan, and that he was too attached to being the best before leaving Tokyo with his son after five yearts of not seeing each other. Apparently he moved into his home town, and started up a tofu store.

By age six, I was able to name any car just by the exhaust note. I almost instantly fell in love with the AE-86 Trueno Notchback at age ten, and by age fourteen, I had purchased one and begun to modify it heavily. I replaced the original 4AG with a more Wangan-suited 600-hp twin-turbo 4AG. It's turbo kickback was so hard, that the exhaust threw flames, and the engine would run out of gas in no more than five runs down the Wangan.

I started running Wangan at age 15, and by 18 when I could legally run my car without being arrested, I became a celebrity, with my car featured in Option-2 twice; once with the stock red paint and stock body, and the other with its signature "246 Heartbreaker" logo. I also ran this famous road as a hardcore drifter when I swiched from the 250-mph capable twin-turbo to a NA setup that produced 300 hp on its best day.

Now you may be asking me, "How did you get this money?" Well, my mother is pretty recognizable. She's one of the top models in the country, with over 1,000 photo shoots under her belt. I try to stand her, but she irritates me. She is the least supportive of my runs I did in my 86, but she still paid for all the upgrades, that is until she discovered my true intentions of fulfilling my dad's dreams. I can never forgive her for breaking up with my father, which whom I never met.

When I wrecked my notchback Trueno, I was devestated. I started going to college at Tokyo University a wek before, and I couldn't pay for a new car at all. The money spent in the engine itself was enough to buy a new Supra, and then it hit me; why not sell the engine and buy a Supra? The car was only trashed from a rear-end collision with a wall, nothing else.

I bought the car after my first year. By this time, I had gotten back together with my mom, and she and I had made up. I could ask her for money, and I'd get it easily, even for my car. She said that the Trueno wasn't a safe car, and if I got a MK III Supra, she still wouldn't trust its safety. I then decided on getting a new JZA80 Supra with a 2JZE engine, already modified to 500 horses. She also said that I can't run the Wangan at all anymore, so I started running on the touge in the area, instead.

I eventually ran into people like my friend Daijyu up on Iroha, and my ex-boyfriend, Ryousuke on Akagi. I learned slowly, and eventually I was able to rule the roads of Tokyo with my new "246 Heartbreaker" monkier striking fear into most drivers. It's never felt this good.

* * *

Chapter 13: Itsuki Reborn!!

"Well," Itsuki said, "It's Saturday." "Yeah, and-" I replied. "You coming up to Akina tonight to witness the birth of the Akina Downhill Duo?" "You mean Takumi and you?" I asked my younger friend. "Yeah! It's going to be great! My SR20-powered Levin monster will soon be a legend in Akina! Just like you, and Takumi!" "Okay then," I replied to him heading inside to get everyone's checks, "See you tonight at 7 PM at the summit."

I pulled up to the side road atop Mt. Akina where we usually start races in the summer. I got out of my revamped and powerful Silvia. Kenji was next, along with his girlfriend Eriko. "Where are they?" she said. "They'll be here," Kenji replied. "Hey guys!" I yelled signaling them over, "The rest of the team's coming up tonight for a February meet!"

Then, about three minutes later, they all started coming up. The Speedstars in all of our glory were finally ready to have some fun tonight. After the team parked and everyone caught up with each other, the two stars of the show appeared to prove their mettle.

Itsuki and Takumi both pulled up with their 86s. Takumi was the first one, which had gone under an immense transformation. Its carbon-fiber door was complimented by a new set of carbon-fiber doors and a carbon-fiber trunklid. The body was, still, pretty stock; no wild bodykits or anything. The most noticeable change in its profile were the new set of sunken-in headlams that didn't pop up like the standard Trueno lights. He still rolled on Kawaharas, but now the
rear tires were wider as with the front. He also moved the tofu-shop decal to the windshield.

"That's a cool car, Kenji!" Eriko stated. "Yeah," Kenji replied to his girlfriend, "He's our hero in this town. A local legend. He's defeated a GT-R, two RX-7s, and countless others. He's one of the best drivers in all of Japan-" -"And he's an amazing drifter!" I said with respect for my younger better half.

Itsuki's car approached and almost seemed to glide over the ground. It's HID headlamps were broader than Takumi's Trueno. The Levin had an almost Porsche-like feel to it. It's black body shone under the streetlamps, showing the insane TRD fender flares, deep-dish Work rims, Porsche-like TRD rear spoiler, and the wild Vertex body kit. I'll admit, hearing that SR20 sounds very weird coming from the car we used to call the "Super Turtle".

They both pulled in, Takumi first, and then Itsuki. They then got out. You could easily see their breath in this cold weather. Itsuki had on a hoodie sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. his face was beet-red. "It's, f-f-f-f-f-freezing, man!" he said shivering, "S-s-s-s-still haven't installed the heating s-s-s-system yet." Takumi was a lot different than his friend. He wore a flannel overshirt that was probably one layer of many. He also wore one of those hats with the flaps on the side with all the fur lining it. "You okay, Itsuki?" he said. "I'm f-f-f-fine, Takumi!" he said, shivering.

We then started admiring both of these "Jewels of Akina". Takumi's Trueno had some serious engine work done on its already amazing TRD 4AG. "Ryousuke says that it now can do 230 hp on a good day," Takumi stated about his hatchback, "It runs a lot smoother now." The main draw, though was the Levin known as the "Downhill Killer" by its owner. "I took her down Akina before she got painted," Itsuki said with glee, "I swear to god, I got about 18 cm away from the guardrails! 18 cm! I've never been that crazy!" "You learned the gutter technique yet?" Takumi asked, in which Itsuki's response was a sadly bowed head.

Just after that comment, a car's lights shone in the distance, trailed by a group of other cars. The car didn't lok like anything I've ever seen. At first, it almost looked like an old Fairlady Z, but then it turned on its turn signals, which were inside of the headlamps. The odd car pulled in, along with what appeared to be a car as black as the night with what sounded like a turbo V6 of some sort. The rest of the cars I had never seen in my life. Then, the man came out. "Hoo-rah!" he yelled.

The rest of the men came out. They all were wearing what appeared to be army uniforms. As they came closer, I could make out their features. All of them weren't Japanese at all, but instead they were of many races. "These must be the guys we'll take on at that military base next round," I thought.

This post has been edited by Turbo_Levin_13 on Oct 28 2006, 03:49 PM

SPEEEEEEEEEEEEED STAAAAAAAAAAAAARS!!

awesome work mate! keep it up!!!

pity you're gonna have to be on hiatus but i dont mind waiting, get ya grades up and we'll be able to see some awesome story!

^ yeah i agree.... its not like u get nething for writing this (except props...)
o btw.... good stuff man

i just became a fan of yours
if u could put sum viduals of all of the characters updated rides
realt tho good stuff

sweet! keep up the good work when you return!

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Oct 31 2006, 04:40 AM

Just read these 2 chapters and they're great =D cant wait for the racing action

I'm now done with my paper, so I oughta be back soon!

Next Chapter: Semper Fi's leader Versus Itsuki and his SR20-AE86!

Tune in by next thursday to find out!

i liked it-its almost as good as Dorifuta's

ITs Baaaaaaaaaaaack!



Chapter 14: Team Semper Fi

"Who the hell are these guys?" Kenji said in an odd tone like he saw a ghost or something, "And what are they driving?!" "How you all doin'?" the man said to us in broken Japanese. "Who are you?" I yelled, "Do you guys want to challenge us?" "No, not really," the man said again in his non-native tounge, "We just want to check out the downhill competitor for next week's tournament round." "So you guys are the Marines from the United States?" Takumi concluded.

We spent the next half-hour checking out each other's cars. "These American cars are way different than ours," I said to one of the guys, looking at the Fairlady-esque car. "Oh, this?" one of the men stated. His skin was a light tan, and he seemed like he was old, but not that old; he was about 30-35, which was my guess, "It's a Camaro." "Aren't they supposed to be good only in a straight line?" "That's the earlier '60s era models. This is a newer 1980 Camaro. I repleced the entire drivetrain with one from a wrecked G35 Skyline. I then lightened the hell out of it by gutting the interior, and sending off all the removeable exterior parts to a local carbon-fiber shop in my hometown of Los Angeles. It brought the weight down by almost 700 lbs, and I just recently twin-turbocharged the engine."

"Wow," I said arms folded, "I'm guessing its for the uphill though." "No, not really," the man said, "My friend Andy's car is the Chevy Nova over there." He pointed to the black 60s-era hot rod. "That's for the uphill. Name's Sergeant Steven Oscar Lopez. I hail from Watts in Los Angeles." At that moment, a young white man came over to us. "Hi," he said, "Name's Andy MacMillan." Andy and Steve told us about the drifting scene in the United States, which goes on everywhere, from parking lots to the touge.

"Hey," Steve stated, "Any of you guys want to race us?" "Sure!" Itsuki said with an unusual enthusiasm. "I've got something to prove," Itsuki stated, "I need to show how good I really am in Akina!" "You sure, man?" Steve stated, slamming his Camaro's hood down, "You know, back in the states, I never lost a race." "Well," Itsuki replied back, "This isn't the USA, now is it?" "You sayin' that I suck?" Steve snapped at Itsuki, "OK, let's go!" "Can you handle him?" I asked. "I'm not sure," Itsuki replied, going to his Levin, "But I sure as hell will try!"

The two cars lined up at the usual starting point for the downhill. "Can he beat him?" Eriko asked her boyfriend. "I hope," Kenji said with a worrisome tone, "but he's got a chance." "Why?" she replied to Kenji. "Because," Kenji restated, "He's been trained by none other than Bunta Fujiwara, the greatest racer in Akina."

"We start my way, kid," Steve said to Itsuki after lining up, "My man will be up here, and when his hands drop, we go. OK?" "Got it," Itsuki replied to his opponent. The man in fatigues held his arms up, and as soon as they dropped, the two frankensteined cars were off.

* * *

"Let's see what this kid's got," Steve said with interest, "If he beats me, I shouldn't even race against Takumi." He downshifted after the first long straightaway. Into the first turn, both of the cars played a more conservative line, with both staying at least 20 cm away from the guardrail. Aftter the first hairpin, Steve realized what he was dealing with.

"Shit," he thought, "This kid's got skill. If he was American, I'd bet he'd be one helluva street racer." The second set of hairpins hit with both of them coming at a rapid-fire pace. "He's fast," Steve thought, performing a shallow drift through the second one, "But he's nothing like the guy in the Trueno. Why the hell is that?"

* * *

"He's gotten better," Takumi replied running behind his friend in my s13, "But he's still kind of shaky coming out of turns that fast." "Can he beat this guy?" I asked him. "Oh, Itsuki?" Takumi replied, "He's gotten good enough to beat this type of a driver. He seems like he's a great driver, but he's still not used to his car. It seems like he's still getting used to the power-to-weight ratio."

"How good do you think it is?" Kenji asked. "If I had to compare it to another car," Takumi stated, "It's probably got the same power-to-weight as Keisuke's fully tuned FD." "No way!" Kenji replied to this statement, "Do you mean after his 450-hp upgraded 13B that blew after your race in the Nagata Prefecture?" "Definitely."

"He's losing it." Takumi stated flatly. "What do you mean?" Eriko asked Takumi unknowing the tense situation the Semper Fi driver was in. "The Semper Fi driver is up front, but he still hasn't lost Itsuki, so he's probably being pressured. He's also light on the accelerator, but he'll probably hit it too hard coming out of a turn and spin out due to his situation." We then waited for that to happen.

* * *

"Here I go!" I yelled, "It's my time to try this out!" The Camaro went to the outside, and I rushed the inside, heading towards the gutter. "Please, God!" I asked, " Let me pull it off!" *Thunk!* "Did I hit the wall?" I asked myself, but then I saw the speedometer saying 90 km/h, and I was on an angle like I was banked in a turn. "YES!" I yelled, "I DID IT!"

* * *

"Did he do-" I asked Takumi in disbelief, "Uh-huh." he replied to me, himself in a rare stupor, "He's gotten real good." We then saw the tires smoke, and an engine roar as the big muscle car spun out. We pulled over to help him. "GODDAMN IT!" the man yelled in English, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" "You okay?" I asked. "Fine!" he replied, "Just a little puzzled by your friend's stunt." "We are, too," I replied to his statement about the gutter move. "We've got nothing on you guys," Steve replied, lighting a cigarette, "Just don't go easy on us next Saturday, okay?" Takumi nodded and then we got back into the car.

To say that Takumi won was an understatement. That next Saturday, Takumi and Keisuke beat both of Semper Fi's best drivers in less than half of the course. The next round is set for March in Usui. We all know who Takumi's racing against, but the uphill is Takeshi Nakazato for the neighboring Myougi NightKids, and he's looking for revenge against me (or Keisuke) in his monstrously powerful re-vamped R32 Skyline GT-R.


OMFG!!!!! 200th POST!!!!!!1111one

This post has been edited by Turbo_Levin_13 on Nov 9 2006, 06:10 PM

"frankensteined cars"
^NICE!
Overall, a very nice chapter. But I forget, who is Takumi's next rival?

Usui=Impact Blue on Downhill

That's all I am going to say

this is really good but sometimes i dont know who is speaking

somehow i have an idea how this will turn out

*is still waiting for a KP60 Starlet appearing out of nowhere and making the heroes sweat*

This post has been edited by FinToy-83 on Nov 10 2006, 04:21 AM

Here we go! New Chapter's up!

Chapter 15: Familiar faces

"Well," I said to Kai, "you were racing the God Arm, weren't you?" "Uh-huh," my friend replied with his bandaged head bowed while the three of us sat in my garage looking at the remains of Kai's father's SW20 MR2. It rolled over about two times when Kai attempted a move similar to his Iroha curb jump.

"But I should've been able to do that!" he said, banging his fists on the wall, "I practiced that for forever in those three days! I got the timing down, I even jumped three turns in a row on that Friday." "We can see one thing though," Rika replied crouching down by the crumpled rear bumper, "It wasn't his fault."

* * *

We just sat down at the restaurant and placed our orders when Kenta asked me a very simple, yet hard to answer, question about the race on Saturday. "Did you see it, Keisuke?" Kenta asked me with that boyish look in his face, "I mean the wreck with that guy from Iroha-zaka." "Yep," I replied to my student, "The bumper was off by that point. He'd already jumped two turns, but this one had a higher curb. He jumped in the air, cutting the corner, and then he-" I hesitated.

"He what?" Kenta asked me, "What happened?" Obviously, he doesn't understand what it feels like when someone rolls their car, and you don't know if he's okay or not. "He landed at a crooked angle, probably due to the God Arm accidentally clipping him in the air. He nosed into the ground, and rolled his MR2 over two times. It's like watching a train wreck."

"We thought at first that he was dead," I told Kenta, "Even the hardened God Arm said he hadn't seen anything that horrendous in his life." By this time, a small group of racers who happened to be there gathered around our table, "We were relieved when he got out of the car. He was bleeding heavily from the head, but God Arm, being the honorable racer he is, and probably feeling sorry, rushed that kid to the hospital faster than any ambulance could."

"So that's what happened?" Kenta asked me, "He rolled over twice and got out with only a cut on his head?" "Pretty much," I replied to his bewildered statement, "And if you guys don't mind, it's time for us to leave." We got our check and then we headed on out.

"Where are you two going?" a voice said to us outside the small diner, "I've got a proposition for one of you." I turned around, and it was that GT-R driver from Myougi, Takeshi Nakazato. "If you want to challenge me," I said, "I'm afraid I've got to decline. Sorry Nakazato. I really don't need you blocking my way with your heavyweight R32."

"What if I said that I changed my ways?" he replieed to us with our backs still turned, "I'm sure that you've heard of God Arm from the Purple Shadow." "Are you saying--" I replied to this in a sense of fear of unknowing. "You hit it dead-on." A cold shiver actually came up my spine; did he say what I thought he said? Was he coached by the God Arm?

We turned around to see hid carbon-gray R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. It looked mostly unchanged except for a light bodykit and new Racing Hart rims, but Takeshi ensured us otherwise. "This car," he said, "Has surpassed any other GT-R in all of Gunma. After my training with the God Foot, I went all-out on my 32. Now its at 450 horsepwer, and it's now at a perfect 50/50 weight distibution due to severe lightening processes I put the car through. You should be afraid of it, my friend, very afraid."

"I'm guessing that you're racing against me this upcoming wekend," I said. "Exactly," Takeshi said to me, "I do look forward to you racing me." "I won't hold back," I replied to him, "You can count on it, Takeshi Nakazato of the Night Kids!" He then headed off with that loud RB26DETT roaring like a beast that

Both of us got into Kenta's S14 Silvia and headed back to RedSuns HQ, which was a garage my brother purchased and ran for his first four years in college. I, since then, have picked it up as my main job as manager, and now I'm making a good-enough living to live on my own in a nice one-bedroom apartment. It's my only income since that incident that happened with my father 7 years ago.

1996: Takahashi Family Household

"Now answer me, Keisuke Takahashi," my dad said, down in my face, "Did you, or did you not have drugs under your mat in your room?" "Yessir," I replied to my father, "It was for a friend, he's trying to kick his crack-habit." "I haven't seen him act strange, dear." my mother replied. The drama in the large dining room was so tense, you could cut it with a knife.

"What the hell, Keisuke?" my father yelled, slapping me in the face, "Between this, your goddamned bike, and you and your stupid gang friends--" "They ain't bad, dad!" I yelled out, in support for my friends. "SHUT UP!" my father yelled at my face, which made me promptly sit down.

"If only you were more like me, or even Ryousuke!" My father yelled, pacing the dining room table's perimeter, "The only things that have happened to him are a few scratches on his Mazda, a couple of speeding tickets, and a B- on his 8th grade report card for English! You can't even average a D! It's a shame that I have to call you my son! As of now, no more bike, no more friends, and no more drug dealing! You can only interact with your brother and his friends! Maybe that'll rub off onto you, by God!"

By this point I was so frustrated, that I had to let it out somehow. I slammed my fists into the drywall, leaving a good-sized 10-inch hole in it. I then ran up into my room, and slammed the door. To put the final nail in the coffin between my dad and me, I yelled at him "F*ck you! I'm gonna kill myself you ungrateful bastard!", and he replied with, "Good, then! Less of your type to care about!" That was the last thing he said to me; we haven't spoken in 7 years since then.

After this, I put in a Metallica CD, and blasted my ¥500,000 sound-system as loud as it would go. I then fell on my bed, Anthrax hoodie, "Eraserhead"-style hair, and all, and began to read my entire collection of GTO manga when my brother came in about two houes later, with his face as red as my father's face was before.

"Keisuke!" he yelled at me, "What the hell's the matter with you?" In my opinion, my brother looked like a complete douchebag back then. He had a pair of white pants on along with his white blazer, but the only thing different from then and now was the "Mazdaspeed" shirt, longer messier hair and the big-ass ugly nerd glasses. "Jesus, man!" I said back, turning my radio down, "Can't you respect a kid's privacy? For all you know I was whacking o-" "Just shut up," he said to me, "and meet me in the garage."

By this time, my mother and father went out to an important fund-raiser, and we were all alone in the garage. My father's huge honking Mercedes was out of its usual spot, and my old Honda bike was nowhere to be found. The only two cars that were there included my mom's American Cadillac Eldorado convertible, and my brother's 1989 pearl white Mazda RX7 turbo that he himself built over two years with our father's disapproval. "Get in," he said to me. "Your car?" I replied, in a state of mental lapse, "Yes," he told me, "And we're going up to Akagi tonight."

It was a Saturday night in May at about 9:00 PM. The streets were lined with sports cars, coupes, and hatchbacks of all different models. "Did you ever like Gran Turismo, Keisuke?" my brother asked me, driving calmly. "Yeah," I said to him, "Why?" "How about chase scenes in movies," my brother said again. "Yeah," I asked, going through his classic riddle routine, "Once again, why?" "One more thing," he said to me, looking at me, "Do you like drifting?"

"What's that?" I asked. His reply changed my mind of what four wheels could do on a curve. "You might want to buckle up," he said as I pulled my lap belt down. He then began to accelerate violently, upshifting at a rapid speed, and then, he hit the brakes, and we flew forward in our seats. He downshifted just as quickly as he upshifted, and then swung the wheel quickly, but not fully, to the left.

Slowly, the sounds of screeching tires came into my ears. It felt like this was all happening very slowly from this point on, but the car then began to swing sideways, and all I could feel was my body getting so heavy, that I had to grab onto the "oh shit" handles above the door. I then looked out the side window, and I saw the road that we were just on slowly disappearing around the bend.

Finally, looking out of the windshield, I had a revelation. When I saw the guardrails flying past me, and the engine howling in repeated bursts, I knew that my brother was crazy. I looked over at him, and he seemed very calm, like this was really nothing for him. "This must be it!" I thought, "This is drifting! Oh my God! It's amazing how he can do this six months after getting his license!" And like that, the car swung back, and we both regained composure.

"Keisuke," my brother said, "I know that you aren't that academic, and that you can't keep focused a lot in school, but if you keep going on like this, you'll die someday either from a bike wreck, a gang rumble, or an overdose. If you die like that, there will be a guilty conscience on my mind, knowing that I hadn't helped you out. What I am offering you is a ticket out of this. If you accept, I will get you a new car with all the tricks done to it, along with full-on training by the best on the mountain. So, are you in, or will you keep going on like this?"

"Any catch?" I asked my older brother. "None whatsoever," he replied with assurance, "Just if you could join my team. Just imagine, you with a job racing for a Japanese Grand Touring Championship team! My team won't be like that, but it will get you there." "Ok," I told him, "I'm in." After that, nothing in my life was the same.

This post has been edited by Turbo_Levin_13 on Nov 6 2007, 07:31 AM

Good story Keep going!

One more before Thanksgiving, everyone!

Chapter 16: Challenges and Curiosity

It was a Thursday during after work-hours and I was just filling up my S13, when Itsuki and Kenji came through. "Hey guys!" I replied, putting the nozzle of the gasoline hose away in the pump, "Where's Reiko?" "She's out right now with her new-found friends in the area," Kenji replied to me, "I feel so lonely." "Don't worry, my good man!" Itsuki said, throwing him into a headlock, "It'll be a brotherly bonding day today! Just us, the top three drivers of the Akina Speed Stars, going to Usui to watch some practice, and maybe catch some action ourselves!"

"How about the movies?" I suggested, "Nah," Itsuki said, "Nothing good in until the Summer." "Karaoke?" Kenji asked. "Eh," Itsuki replied, "Why the hell not!" "We'll treat you, my good man!" I told my friend, "Especially after you beat that guy in the Camaro!" "YAHOO!" he yelled, jumping up in joy, "KARAOKE IT IS!" We then got into our cars and rolled off.

* * *

"So," Ryousuke asked me, sipping his latte, "You want to take Keisuke on?" "Exactly, Ryousuke," I replied to him, "I want to humiliate him to his very core, and then I will come after Takumi Fujiwara, the nucleus of my glorious revenge plot!" "Will this race be part of the tournament, or just an exhibition?" He asked me, "You can't take on two drivers at once, at least in one night, and expect for you to move up two rounds." "I know," I told him impatiently, "I just need to show the world that I've gotten better."

"OK then," Ryousuke said, "It's a deal. I'll put it up on my website tonight, and it'll be set in stone. How does 11 PM sound?" "I'm fine with that," I replied to him, "As long as Keisuke aceepts my challenge, the race is on. I believe that I have told him who is my sensei." "Who would that be, Takeshi?" the older brother said to me as we walked out to our cars.

"I believe your brother knows Yoshino Kozua, right," I egged Ryousuke on, "God Foot?" He seemed shocked, even for someone as laid back as Ryousuke. "We know him," he told me coldly, "And that will make no difference about the outcome." He then sped off in his white FC3S. "You should be afraid, Keisuke," I thought getting into my heavily-modified R32 I now deemed "Hellspawn 32", "I will crush you like the arrogant insect you are, and after you, it will be your brother, the White Comet, Ryousuke Takahashi, and finally, I'm coming for you Fujiwara Takumi!"

* * *

"I wonder who Daijyu is racing on Saturday..." My friend and partner in racing said at the bottom of Usui. "Why?" I asked Sayuki, "I thought you were interested in Takumi Fujiwara?" "I was," she replied, "I mean, I still do like him. I just have a new crush, that's all." "I wonder if Iketani'll show up," I thought.

"Mako," Sayuki said to me, as we went to the local cafe in the area, "If you and Iketani really want to get back together, I'm all for that, but if he breaks your heart again, he'll have to answer to me." "What do you mean?" I asked her. "You know how I was saying that I had a car that I haven't driven in a few years?" Sayuki said to me as we slowed at a stop signal "Yeah," I said to her, "You said it was your man's old Toyota hatchback. What did he do to it, though?"

"It won't interest you," Sayuki said to me again. "I don't mind hearing any car jargon!" I told her enthusiastically, knowing that she was trying to go out on her own, "Just tell me!" "Okay then," she said back to me, "When he bought his old '88 Supra, the parts were already becoming rapidly available. He had the car for ten years, and after he blew the old engine, he swapped it out for a JZA80- I mean Mark IV Supra- engine. He built up the engine from scratch in the garage with me at his side. It was the wildest-looking car I ever saw.

"The only problem was that our mother wouldn't let us take it out after we built it," She said, "My father lightened the car so much, that it weighed nearly three-quarters its original weight. With 425 horsepower going through such a drivetrain, things could get kind of crazy. The power was so strong, that the rear-end would slide out from the car, and we'd be forced to swing it back in almost every gear."

"Wow," I told Sayuki, "And you've been driving it?" "Uh-huh!" she said in a joyous voice, "And I'm getting pretty good, too!" If this car is as scary as Sayuki is stating it is, I feel that she might die driving it. I can't let that happen to her, but I can't stop her undying spirit now; no one can.

wow good stuff man.... props for getting one in right b4 thankgiving too