The Race Begins in 5th. *UPDATED: SIDE STORY #2*

[DK]

Finally! This story's been zapped back to life! I hope this starts a trend in stories being revived.

 

[SaberFire]

Side Story 2: Strange New World​

"WHY AM I NOT LOSING HIM?!"

"BIKES CAN'T CORNER FASTER THAN CARS, THAT'S A FACT!"

"Boy, he ain't happy, is he, Ren?!" King says through our mobile connection.

"Well, it IS true, bikes can't corner faster than cars. But either way, you're embarassing him, and he doesn't look too happy."

King laughs and accelerates, hunting the Civic down.

Street racing in broad daylight? We were supposed to be scouting tonights' venue. Instead, we get a mouthy Civic driver who challenges us on his "turf" and King just can't resist showing off. I let out an audible sigh as I set off after them. At least this part of town is almost deserted at this time of day.

"Come on, Ren! We've got to establish ourselves in some way, you know? Start with the small fries first and all that?"

The Civic driver is gunning it down the straight.

King is travelling much faster, though. I'm beginning to struggle to keep up myself, actually.

Although we can't hear the exact words, they're certainly frustrated ones from the Civic driver. He's being hunted down at a rate of a metre a second. He comes to a bend and only brakes slightly for the corner. Is he running, like, 100hp under that bonnet or something?

"And there's my chance!"

The Civic scrubs off too much speed going into the corner; he's running wide and probably shredding his tyres to hell. King deftly brakes hard, and swings through the inside, nearly smacking his head on the inside of the corner.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Hah! Ain't VTec kicked in yet? Tell me you caught that, Ren!"

King leaves the Civic for dead. Literally, that Ninja has insane acceleration. Almost as fast as that mouth of King's, actually.

"As a matter of fact, yeah. Hopefully this isn't the best the competition has to offer tonight."

"Nah, Ai said there's some serious people in this neck of the woods. He'll tell you all about it tonight."

King looks back and sees me way off in the distance. The Civic must have turned off at the first opportunity to save a little bit of face.

"I know he had business in this place a few years back before he came back to China. Something about a guy named Yari? Drove an M3, I recall."

"Yeah, he'll tell you all about that. He's been busy today, seeing how much has changed. It'll be a good night though, don't you worry. Anyways, I'm gonna go and catch a few hours sleep. See you tonight, alright?!"


"Sure thing. I'm getting something to eat. Used to be a local, so I'm seeing if that noodle stand is still there."

We both part and go our separate ways. I can't deny that bit of racing was fun, if a bit foolish. It was a Civic, after all. Not the greatest contender ever, if I'm honest. Well, tonight should be fun. I'm actually looking forward to riding the old streets again. Obviously, at much faster speeds than I've ever been before, but there's a first time for everything, I suppose...

---

It's night time, and boy, is there a crowd tonight? Some lethal cars, certainly. Firstly, there's a Mustang. Whoever's driving that must be seriously rich. Probably puts out more fumes than 10 R1's. He's also got a very... bassy sound system. You can feel it vibrating through your visor if you're close enough. Nothing compared to the growl of that 8 cylinder, though. That's earth-moving machinery right there.

He seems popular with the ladies as well. Well, except for one...

The girl driving the Silvia makes another attempt at the turn. Always flawless, yet she never seems satisfied. What's she waiting for? The tyre sidewall to burst?

And then, to add another driver to the happy bunch, we have this Stagea driver apparently bedding in his brakes. Or something.

The whine of the Nissan straight six is unmistakable. I've missed this, really. You don't usually get this back in China; just the odd three-pot sounds from the kei-vans and diesel engines.

Me, Ai, King and Nath are all just standing there watching. Sort of like the unpopular kids at a house party. We just don't fit in right now.

"So, Ai, what do I need to know?"

Ai breaks his stare from the current demonstrations and turns to face me.

"It's a long story, so I'll gloss over a few of the details. You'll learn about them in time, anyway. Well, back in the day, I used to run with this guy. My best friend, Takeshi. Calls himself Yari these days, but go figure. Anyways, what eventually formed was a racing group of sorts. Me, Takeshi, and two others."

"One of them was my ex-girlfriend, Kyoko. I'd actually go as far to say she was the best out of all of us, if she'd had the machinery capable. Instead, she had to make do with the station wagon she had given to her by her Dad for graduating Uni. Either way, she was fast. But the last I heard, she's a single mother with a kid."

"Why'd you break up?"

"Details, Ren, details. You'll eventually find out. Anyways, the second was a guy called Kazuma Bryant. He was married to an American woman, but that didn't stop him turning the family saloon into a killer."

"Not as fast as Kyoko, but still amazingly fast. Apparently still dabbles in racing, but I haven't been here for years... moving on to the last two. Takeshi drove an M3."

"He came from a money background, so the M3 was affordable for him, but he wasn't spoilt. The youngest out of all of us, certainly, still being in University at the time. Probably the fastest car out of ours, but he was young back then, so not as fast, if you get what I mean. Great driver, though. And..."

"...last but not least, me. Without a doubt, I was the poorest, being an immigrant from China and all. I eventually saved up and coincidentally bought an old Galant. Before I met Kyoko, anyway. It was fast enough to contend with the best, after I'd modified it over time. We'd eventually become the fastest street racing organisation in this area. Of course, one thing led to another and I eventually moved back to China. By then the founders had mostly gone their separate ways. Kazuma, certainly couldn't devote enough time with his kids and wife to look after. But Takeshi seems to have done really well for himself, apparently. Speak of the devil..."

My history lesson was cut short by the sound of an inline 4. And it sounded angry.

"Haha! Long time no see, Ai! Come here man, show some love!"

Ai walked over to Yari and they took each other in an embrace. Both slapping each others' backs, too. They must have been tight as Ai says, huh?

"Takeshi, it's been such a long time. We've got a lot of catching up to do, I know that. New wheels, I see?"

"Yeah, you know it. Old ones as well, if you get my drift? Whilst you seem to have dropped a pair..."

In the background, Nath and King look on, a bit confused. More so Nath than King. King knows a little Japanese, but Nath knows practically next to none.

"They're just catching up with each other, that's all."

Nath shrugged.

"I'm just wondering when it's time to race. Test the waters, so to speak?"
"Soon, I imagine. Although looking at the competition, this is just gonna be an exhibition of sorts."

King was the next to shrug.

"Better than that Civic, surely?"
"Give them the benefit of the doubt, King. That chick, she knows her way around a bend, am I right?"

I shake my head and leave King and Nath talking. He's a right horndog when it comes to it, that Nath...

"Yo!"

Yari gestures at us and the car drivers to come to him. We eventually gather in a small crowd.

"Alright, we've really only got time for one race this evening, and me and Ai here have a lot to catch up on, so there's only one race this evening. So, we've decided that..."

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[SaberFire]

Two updates in one day?

Okay, I'm gonna have a little vote, if there's enough interest for one. If not, I'll just pick whoever for the race and build off that. Pick one car and one bike to race against each other. The choices are:

Car:
a) The Silvia
b) The Mustang
c) The Stagea

Bike:
a) The R6 (Ren)
b) The Ninja (King)
c) The Daytona (Nath)

Ai and Yari aren't racing for obvious reasons Well, have fun and C & C always appreciated

I'll probably have the next chapter up before another one from this side story, but who knows?

 

[DK]

I want to see the Mustang race against the Ninja.

BTW, what the hell are BMW rims doing on an Evo?

 

[SaberFire]

Yari had a thing for his old M3; so he kept the old rims as the stock Evo ones are butt ugly.