The Night's Shadow: Kenji Yamamoto Reborn

[Anathema]

Prologue:


Author’s Note:Hello everyone. This is DW/FE10 here, with a new Race Story. The old one kinda fell apart, so I decided to make a new one, using many aspects and things from the original that were well liked.

This is a race story - the idea of which comes from gtplanet.com. Using Gran Turismo 4 for photos works wonders, and is a lot simpler than making each photo from scratch. Some of the infamous things from other stories do make an appearance, such as the legendary Armageddon Van.

Hope you enjoy my first work since… a while. I use colored text to differentiate what characters there are.


Prologue I: A New Beginning

Stuff in black italics is the main character’s thoughts and some actions. The main character is in blue, Micaiah is in violet.

Date: Feb. 15, 2007. Time: 12:32 PM
The darkness fades away as my eyes open slowly.

“Where… am I?” I groan out.
“The Infineon Raceway General Hospital, sir.” The nurse replied.… Wait. Why a nurse? Why am I even in the hospital to begin with?

“What…happened? Why am I in the hospital?” My voice grates out the words.

“At over 160 MPH, you wrecked your Toyota Minolta 88-CV when the one guy hit you during the race last month.”

“Did that really… happen? I don’t… remember… anything.” That really… happened? What? Why? HOW?

“James Morgan spun you out. But that’s in the past. You really don’t recall anything? Anything at all?”

“No… I don’t remember… anything. Not even my name…” WHAT? I don’t remember ANYTHING? I don’t even know my own name. Why did this happen? Who would and why would someone do this to me?

“Of course… I always get stuck with the amnesiacs or the ones with permanent memory loss. Figures.”

“Do… you… know anything about who I am?” Please. At least my name…

“All the hospital records show is your name and when you came into the hospital.”

“Wait… you said I was in a race a MONTH ago? How long have I been in here?" Strange. I’m a race car driver? How long have I been in here?

“You’ve been sitting in that bed for about a month. Knocked out cold.”

“… What’s my name?” I’m a race car driver? What?

“Hmm… You really do have amnesia, then. Your name is… Kenji Yamamoto, according to the hospital records.”

“… When can I leave this place?” Hmm… My name is useless to me. I want to know… why this has happened.

“I think one of your friends is in the lobby, waiting for you. You can leave now if you want - you just had to wake up to be able to leave.”

“Good.” Friends? I have friends?

I slowly walk to the elevator. As I go down the floors, I search my memory for anything - but all there is is a blank zone. I remember NOTHING at all.

As I exit the elevator, a girl with long black hair runs up to me and hugs me. My eyeballs were on fire.

“KENJI! YOU’RE OK!”

“Who… are you? I don’t remember anything…” A girl? Since when do I have any friends that are girls?

“Wait… what? You don’t remember me?”

“No… I don’t remember anything.” Intriguing. Who is this girl… She’s hot though…

“NOOOOOOO….WHHHHYYYYYYY!!!!....”

She started to cry.

“Shhh… We don’t need another patient for this quack place. What’s your name?” Hmm… Must be some emotional connection here. Not sure why though…

“M--Micaiah--Micaiah Takata. I - I’m your girlfriend.”

“…Uhhh… OK…” ??? I have a girlfriend? Wow…

“*Sniff*… Why did this have to happen? WHY?”

“Calm down, calm down. Take me somewhere and explain just what the 🤬 is going on? Who am I? Why am I here? Why am I a race car driver?” Oh lord… this is going to get awkward.

“Well… *sniff*… I suppose we can go to the Caedus Kaido coffee shop and restaurant in Yosemite… It’s where we always go after you race…”


“We do? Or… we did? Sounds good. I‘m hungry…” Sounds like a good place to eat… Yosemite… peaceful…

“*Laughs* Well… I can see that your appetite hasn’t changed much. *sniff* I suppose we can go sort this out there… Maybe a few people there can help us out.”
------------------------------------------------

In the parking lot of the hospital…

“Whoa… Who owns that… Skyline, is it?” DROOL….
“I do. My first car, thanks to my dad. Good... You remember at least what it is.”

“Can I drive?” Wait… I remember… something. A sweet memory?

“You think you can? OK… I guess you can. Hopefully this will all come back to you…”
-----------------------------------------------

Fin Prologue I

 

[DK]

Nice start, I hope this doesn't get abandoned. 👍

 

[Anathema]

This one definetly won't. Might be a bit of space between chapters, but this one is here to stay.
Also going to finish the other one at some point - going to have to make them tie into each other.

 

[Korza]

Great start, this story has some potential. Keep it up!!!!

 

[Anathema]

Photos for the next one are all up & ready. Time to type the next prologue up.

 

[Anathema]

Prologue II: Echoes of the Past, Part One

Here we are with the second chapter. As before, Kenji is blue, Micaiah is purple, and Kenji’s thoughts are in black italics. This story does not disrespect Germans - I myself am part German.

==========================================
Date: Feb.15, 2007 Time: 2:40 PM
Driving through the forests and winding roads of El Capitan…

“This thing is obviously tuned.” This thing has gobs of power....

“Well… your driving is slightly different than before. Maybe… a bit more conservative.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Hopefully not…

“No. It means that you probably won’t push the car to the limit as much, making it less risky.”

“This place is so peaceful. Calm and quiet driving…” Why do I get the feeling I’ve been here before on numerous occasions…?

“Until the cops or other racers come out. This is one of the biggest street racing areas. You’ve been pulled over at least twice so far.”

“…That’s depressing. Have I really been pulled over before?” Wow… I fail.

“Yes, but once they figured out who you were, they were asking for your autograph.”

“…” Just HOW famous am I?

“Watch it - this is the worst turn of this area coming up. You can fly off and into the river if you take it wrong.”

“Hmmm….” Great, MORE pressure.

“Slow down a bit…”

“Waaaghhhh…”

“Wonder where my butt fell off back there. Just like Opus the Penguin.” OUCH… Not good.

“Try not to destroy the suspension… AGAIN.”

“I think I know what NOT to do now…” Those corner things SUCK.

Suddenly, two cars speed past us.

# - “Befördern Sie schwer zugänglichen, japanischen ricer Jungen!” (Move out of the way, Japanese ricer boy!)

# - “Don' t ist mittler… That' s a GT-R dort.” (Don’t be mean… That’s a GT-R there.)

# - “Wer sich interessiert, was es ist, kann meine Großmutter dieses thing' lecken; s-Kolben sauber!” (Who cares what it is, my grandma can lick that thing's butt clean!)

“…That was an insult if I’ve ever heard one before.”

“…” Pffft. German idiot.

Suddenly… something inside me began to burn. I felt a sense of… power and speed, calling me to show that German who’s boss. I punched the gas.
“Ummm… Kenji? What are you doing…?”

I didn’t reply as I tore after the RUF and the Audi RS6.

# - “Lassen Sie mich aus Ihrer Weise heraus, Godzilla!” (Let me out of your way, Godzilla!)

# - “Verlieren zu einem ricer Jungen… that' s-Niederdrücken. Noob…” (Losing to a ricer boy... That's depressing. Noob.)

# - “Mein Gott… He' s DAS nah bereits?” (My God... He's THAT close already?)

# - “Aggghhhh… ERHALTEN SIE WEG!” (Aggghhhh... GET AWAY!)

“Kenji? Be careful!”

I outbraked him going into the hairpin.

# - “NEIN! Angegangen, Sie deutsches Stück Mist!” (NO! Come on, you German piece of crap!)

He had the straight-line speed the GT-R lacked for some reason, and he pulled ahead.

However, I made up my mind and went to the inside on the dangerous turn.

“Oh no…”

# - “Mein Gott - He' ll Abbruch!” (My God - He’ll crash!)

Somehow I got the GT-R pointed in the right direction and drifted the turn.

# - “I don' t glauben ihm - er stellte es Stock her!” (I don’t believe it - he made it stick!)

# - “Mein Gott…”
After that, I left them in the dust. When I finally slowed down…

“K-K-Kenji… How did you…”

“I don’t… know.” Awesome! Showed that guy and scored points with my girl at the same time! Win!

“Forget what I said earlier. You still take risks…”

Suddenly, my eyes went dark. I saw a stream of images fly by, with long-past words accompanying them.

=====================================================

# - “With that overmatched Subaru, does Kenji even stand a slight chance of winning?”

# - “He dives to the inside of the first turn, looking for an opening - Wait, no, he gets shoved on the outside!”

# - “Oh, he’s hit! Will he lose it - No, he recovers in brilliant fashion! He hauling that car at a very good clip!”

# - “He shoots to the inside! Can he make it stick - Yes, he done it! All that’s left is the leader!”

# - “He’s going into the tunnel! Will he risk it - Yes, he will!”

# - “Did he do it - Yes! A perfect inside pass! There’s no way they are catching him now!”

=====================================================

My vision cleared to find me on the road, still in the GT-R.

“Hey Kenji… You OK? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…”

“I… saw something from the past. Was there ever a race held here that I entered in a white Subaru?” Oh great. Is this how my memories are going to come back?

“Ummm… Yeah… A while ago. You made a ridiculously risky pass on the inside to win, just like you just did. Why?”

“I just saw images from the past of that very same race when I blacked out.”

“You blacked out? All you did was close your eyes for a second…”

“Yes, I did black out. It felt like 15 minutes, though…”

“Hmmm… This might be worse than I thought. Pull over and let me drive.”

“I guess so…”

================================================================

Fin Prologue II

 

[DK]

Nice chapter, but I feel like it needs a few corrections:

# - “Don' t ist mittler… That' s a GT-R dort.” (Don’t be mean… That’s a GT-R there.)

Should be: "Du sollst nicht böse sein, das ist ein GT-R."
# - “Mein Gott… He' s DAS nah bereits?” (My God... He's THAT close already?)

Should be: "Er ist so nahe?"

# - “Mein Gott - He' ll Abbruch!” (My God - He’ll crash!)
Should be: "Er wird zum Absturz!"

# - “I don' t glauben ihm - er stellte es Stock her!” (I don’t believe it - he made it stick!)
Should be: "Ich glaube es nicht."

Sorry if I end up being wrong: the last time I used German was to understand Asuka Langley Soryu, and before that it was my summer exams at the beginning of June.

 

[Anathema]

That's Babelfish for you... Another reason I hate using other languages within my stories. Not sure if it's right or wrong.

 

[Anathema]

Pictures are just about finished & writing more for the next chapter. What's a good size? 600px by 600px? I think my current size is too large.

 

[DK]

^ I think 640x480 would be a good size.

 

[Anathema]

All right... Let's try a test picture:

A lot better. Isn't taking up the entire page like my usual ones.

 

[DK]

Yeah, that's good. 👍

 

[Rykon Zero]

I am going to show this to my host brother tomorrow morning, and I'm going to see if he cries. I get the feeling, not certain, but I get the feeling that translation is wrong, wrong, so wrong.

 

[Anathema]

You know... I get the feeling as well. Damn Babelfish...

Anyone got a better translator I can use? Probably not using any more languages except for the Japanese I know.

Really irritated by this...

 

[Rykon Zero]

I've got some Germans here I can have you talk to. It'll have to wait a while though.

 

[Anathema]

Thing is... I'm part German myself. I see the need to learn the language in the forseeable future... but not at this moment.

 

[Korza]

If you need anything translated into Japanese, let me know. I have been learning it for over 5 years so I can help with it.

 

[Anathema]

I actually have been taking Japanese for 2 years now, so I think I'm good with that part.

English is still better for Race Stories...

 

[Anathema]

Prologue III: Echoes of the Past, Part 2

Third prologue is here. Getting into echoes from the unfinished first story. Hopefully this will all become clear soon enough. As always, constructive criticism is welcomed.


=====================================
Date: Feb. 15, 2007 Time: 5:37 PM
At the Caedus Kaido Restaurant…

We pull into the parking lot.

“Hey… Isn’t that the Audi RS6 from earlier?”

Sure enough, the selfsame Audi was sitting there.

I made my mind up quickly.

“Either he wants something from us… or wants to know who I am.” Hmmm… this could be bad or good. Not sure yet.

“We weren’t followed, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No… But looking at it from here… It’s obviously modified heavily.” Dang… That’s GOT to have been dropped a few inches at least. Non-stock wheels too.

“Well… I don’t think any of your enemies have any clue where you are at the moment anyway, plus the owner knows you well and will give us some information. Put these shades on, just in case.”

We entered the restaurant in silence and went to the front counter.

“Ahhh… Mi-”

Micaiah slammed her hand over his mouth.

“Shhh… Private room #3. Get the Audi RS6 driver in there too.”

He silently nodded his head and showed us to the room and left.

“Fancy.” Dang… that was quick.

“This is the room I had designed for us after you won the F1 title a month ago…”

She looked like she was going to start crying again. I took her hand in mine and looked into those bright blue eyes.

“Hey… Don’t cry. Just relax…” I feel awkward doing this.

“Well…It was supposed to be special… for after you won the LeMans title.”

“I won it?” AWESOME!

“No… but the Infineon race was the last one before you locked up the championship. You had a big enough lead, until that 🤬 wrecked you.”

Just then the Audi driver was shown in. Micaiah shot me a look to keep it quiet about the LeMans series.

He froze when he saw us…

“Gah… I WAS right.”

He sat down opposite from us and offered his hand.

“Kenji Yamamoto and Micaiah Takata, I presume.”

“Yes… You’re the Audi driver from earlier today, correct?” Wait… He knows our names?

“Indeed. I can recognize that Skyline anywhere… with those distinctive black Nismo wheels. My name is Tomas Gillespie.”

“Isn’t that… Swedish?”

“I was born in Sweden, but raised in Germany.”

“Wait… I know you from somewhere…”

“At the one DTM event. You won in that Mercedes versus my Audi A4. That was a lot of fun.”

“What were you doing racing through here?”

“I was testing out the RUF driver for my DTM ride. He obviously failed that test.”

“Yeah… That’s the reason you pulled off to the side?”

“One of the reasons. I also recognized your Skyline.”

Suddenly… The sound of a car cut through the peaceful atmosphere. We jumped up and ran to the window, where we saw…

The car door opened and the driver got out.

Micaiah froze when she saw the guy get out. He slowly walked into the restaurant. We lost sight of him.

“Shhhh… Everyone, keep it down…”

Suddenly, the door opened slowly and silently. The guy walked in. He had a black trench coat, black boots, sunglasses, and a fedora on. He also was holding a Glock, and was pointing it at us.

“Here’s a letter for you. It has certain things we need your help with. You know who I am. I’m sorry what I have done in the past. If you can forgive me, we need your help.”

Micaiah shakily took the letter.

“You know where to find me.”

He then left the room. A minute later, we heard the engine start up and he drove away.

“Wasn’t that Ryosuke Takata…?”

“Yes… that’s my brother.”

“You have a spy for a brother?” Ouch… I don’t think he’s the best brother out there.

“He’s not a spy… he’s just trying to be hidden.”

“Doesn’t help if he’s using THAT as a car.”

“Come to think of it… that’s really dumb. At least he earned the car…”

“Wasn’t that from him winning the WRC last year?”

“I think. Now he runs with Subaru, but he uses that as his daily driver.”

“Hmmm…” Hmmmm….

“Well… As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted…”

Suddenly, there was the sound of a loud explosion from outside. We rushed to the window. There… was the impact crater from a C4 that had destroyed the Toyota Supra that had just pulled into the parking lot.

“It’s not safe here now. Someone... or something... is out to get us.” What the hell is going on?

“My thoughts exactly.”

“I have a friend who lives near here. We can stay there until this blows over. Willing to come?”

“Good idea.” Hmmm… I think we can trust this guy. He drives a tank, after all.

We ran into the parking lot, jumped in our cars, and took off. Next stop: Just outside of Trial Mountain, 20 miles away.
=====================================================

Fin Prologue III

 

[DK]

I'm finding it hard to believe that Kenji would have the time to win both the F1 and the Le Mans Series in the same year.

 

[Anathema]

Notice I do not have the dates listed. I need to do that.

Also, never said what year it was.

EDIT: All that's been updated.

 

[Anathema]

Tomorrow (weather permitting) the next chapter will be up.

 

[Anathema]

Well... Sorry for being less active. Something is wrong with my PS2 - I need a new one.

 

[DK]

Damn, that's a huge shame.

 

[Korza]

Use a hammer, hammer's can fix anything!

 

[Anathema]

I can still use it - it won't read anything BUT GT4. Very odd.

 

[Korza]

Does it make a clicking noise when you insert the disc?

 

[Anathema]

Does it make a clicking noise when you insert the disc?

Yep. Going to be fried, so might as well get full use out of it before it dies.

In other news: Next chapter is done, with pics coming tomorrow with the story itself.

 

[Korza]

I had that with my Slim. I had to whack the underside of the console on a hard surface in order for it to read my copy of GT4.

 

[Anathema]

Alright, got a new one. Going to start an entirely new series with a co-writer (not on this site, though.)