Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Alternate Tracks 2nd Story in Rivalry Series	By : kurahieiritrJIO Category: +G to L > Initial D Views: 2560 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Initial D, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 25
- 26
- 27
CHAPTER 26

A mysterious machine followed a motorcycle into view. Both vehicles moved fast into the complex's multiple level lot entryway. The car looked run down at first glance. It had a huge chrome chain blower that reared proudly from the center of its hood. They could hear loud music sporadically between throaty engine growls as the car closed on their position. Takumi watched Keisuke frown as he checked the new arrival out. Takumi stood beside his teammate, and lover. A glance at Keisuke showed a man frowning at the strange car that growled menace as it blitzed the switch between the left and right halves of the condominium community to stay with the motorcycle. For all it looked as if the owner should consign it to a scrap yard, the car had nimble handling Takumi realized. Both vehicles sped into their particular lot in perfect synch. He watched the two machines slow down and glide to a stop near Tohji's sedan.

Tohji waved at the newcomers inside the foreign car. The automobile shuddered, and its rear end dropped from a high position to a low stance, settling low on its axles which startled Takumi. He had never seen a car change angles before shutting off. The engine ragged, grumbled, and growled without a consistent rhythm for several seconds before it died after a last ominous rumble and shuddering body. Music continued to blare from the vehicle after the engine died. Moments later the music volume dropped.

The car had a slightly smaller front wheel base, and larger rear wheel base Takumi noted as he tried to decipher what he saw. It was a medium flat gray colored car. The body style was a combination of boxy, and sleek lines. Only the chromed blower and bumpers suggested that the vehicle was not a junk heap that barely got from point A to B.

"I've never seen a car like that, but something about its looks isn't bad. If it didn't look so trashed, it would probably have a rakish appeal." Keisuke sounded thoughtful.

Uneasy currents strained Ryosuke's voice as he stepped next to Keisuke and looked over the car as well. "It isn't any European model that I recognize. Whatever it is, that vehicle is very mechanically sound."

"That's Singing Wolf's personal car. I would refrain from judging that vehicle on its looks. Neither the car, nor the owner is what they seem on the surface, minnasan." Tohji advised.

Ryosuke nodded. "That automobile has a lot of horsepower. The way it blitzed the switch over coming into this lot tells me that it's highly modified. The suspension has a lot of tuning judging by the way its rear end dropped before shutting off."

"It's a lot louder than a GT-R. But, doushite does it look like crap, and such a rough idle if it's not a piece of junk?"

"I'm not sure, Otouto."

Akimoto pulled off his helmet. Takumi felt a moment of irritation at seeing the burly street fighter. He stepped back so that Keisuke was between the large man and himself. Tohji chuckled and conspiratorially whispered, "Don't worry, Fujiwara kun, Akimoto will leave you alone. You turned him down, so you're quite safe. As things stand, Keisuke kun will get very angry if he offended your sensibilities a second time."

Itsuke bounded up beside them with awe plastered on his features. "That's a real live classic American street machine!" Itsuke's voice boomed as he went into an overload. "The real thing's totally awesome! I've only seen pictures of these babies. It looks like one of the later models of the antique Plymouth Barracuda lineup produced in the late sixties and real early seventies. It's in a primer even! Man, I wonder how many modifications were done? It sounds like it's tuned to sleeper settings even! This is so awesome, Tak!"

Itsuke's enthusiasm was formidable. He stood with his fists up at his chest, barely keeping himself from dancing in place. Keisuke gave the nineteen-year-old a dark look as he tried to curb his irritation. Takumi worried that his adopted brother was so focused on the car that he missed Keisuke's glare.

Tohji gave Itsuke a long look and smiled as if he found Itsuke interesting. Takumi felt the heat of both reasons for his embarrassment climb into his ear tips. Between Itsuke's loud gushing, and getting called on his dislike of Tohji's boyfriend, Takumi was mortified. He kept his voice soft on purpose as he addressed the older man next to him.

"Uhm, I know about the plan that night, but Akimoto san's still uncomfortable to be around . . . for now. Gomen, Tohji san. I know you're with him, but he really pissed me off by behaving like that when he's with you."

"Don't worry, Fujiwara. If Akimoto ever hits on you again, I'll beat him into a bloody pulp, and I've made sure Akimoto knows it." Keisuke replied loud enough for Takumi and Tohji to hear the genuine emotion Keisuke felt as he made the declaration.

Tohji chuckled with a hand over his lips. "That I can believe, Keisuke kun. You really must catch me up on all that has happened of late. The last time I saw you, you needed some loose ends tied up as I recall."

Akimoto clamped a hand on Keisuke's shoulder. Takumi stepped farther away, and turned to watch the larger man. "Hey, I'm getting to see you sooner than planned, Keisuke ni. Isn't this great?"

Keisuke gave the giant a long look. He gestured to the other man's torn lips and swollen jaw. "Akimoto, what happened to your face?"

"The little lady got mad. I told her she was sexy, and she slugged me. She packs quite a punch too." He turned with a pronounced shrug, and quipped. "Hey, Tohji baby, you were right. She's been trained as a body guard. I think she knocked three of my teeth loose with one punch. I've been tasting blood ever since she nailed me in the kisser."

Tohji choked as he rubbed his forehead. Takumi felt sorry for the older man as he watched a pinched expression dominate Tohji's features. Keisuke snorted, took a drink from his sport drink, then shook his head while he rolled his eyes.

"Just great," The blond muttered.

"Akimoto, doushite did you ignore my advice?" Tohji scolded as he looked at the car containing the woman Akimoto had accosted. "Good heavens, Singing Wolf must be livid! Baka, can't you even follow simple instructions? That's probably the reason they haven't left her A.A.R. yet. Asada san must be calming her down!"

"I didn't realize she was the one you wanted me to meet. I figured she'd be brawny or something since you said she works as a relief guard. You never said she was an exotic beauty with the world's most perfect ass!"

Fumihiro spoke up with a firm voice as if to insure a change in the topic. "Do you think that car's a Gaijin competitor, Ryosuke san? The way the rear end dropped after the car stopped means that they have modified it in ways we've never seen."

Ryosuke gave everyone a stern look before he turned to answer his chief mechanic, Takumi noted. "For the moment, we're only certain that the driver is the Gaijin representative. She is with the Captain of the Roaring Falls team. If that car is a competitor, I'll investigate the car and driver after we get invited to the second course."

Itsuke turned to Ryosuke and answered, "If you're going to face that car in a couple weeks, you're probably in for a lot of nasty surprises. Did you know antique American cars are famed for big block engines. Most antique muscle cars had straight six, eight, V-6, V-8 or V-12 engines with minimums of four-hundred horsepower from the factory floor? Some muscle cars left the factory cranking out close to six hundred horsepower. Man, I wonder how much horsepower that monster's got under the hood! I bet it's a ton! I wonder if it has the original 4-40 six pack under the hood?" Itsuke's enthusiasm took over as he chattered at rapid speed.

Keisuke looked at the shorter man with a frown. "It looks, and sounded like a piece of junk, Takeuchi!"

"You're wrong, Keisuke san. Americans call the ragged idle a sleeper setting." Itsuke shook his head in denial.

Keisuke growled in a quiet voice. "Don't be so dense, Takeuchi! Cars don't sound like that unless there's an engine problem."

Itsuke ignored the older racer's reprimand much to Takumi's growing embarrassment. "My 'Kasān's brother lives in America. His company stationed him there over a decade ago. My uncle's gotten to know Americans. He says a lot of people modify their cars. He told me that the ones kept in primer, instead of painted, often have multimillion-yen, heavily modified engines under their hoods. They usually have outrageous suspension, and undercarriage modifications too. Primer coat cars earn their reputation as dangerous competition machines in some parts of the American street racing scene."

Keisuke scoffed. "That doesn't mean anything, Takeuchi. It sounds like Americans have a weird car fad to me."

"My uncle wouldn't lie to me, Keisuke san. He said that Americans obsessed with pushing cars to extremes of performance don't paint heavy competitors due to the ongoing upgrades, and changes they make to their cars. Some car engines are so powerful that have to be set up as a sleeper. It's a type of staggered timing that creates a really choppy sounding idle that keeps really powerful engines from tearing apart the car's main frame in lower gears. A sleeper setting reduces the power used until it's purposefully unleashed. Those are cars that Car shows have timed consecutively under ten seconds on the quarter mile drag strips in America. The cars rapidly climb to insane speeds when the power gets distributed through the torque converter gets fed into the drive train."

"Multi million yen engines, Takeuchi?" Ryosuke sounded annoyed. Takumi glanced at the older Takahashi brother, whose eyes darted between Itsuke, and the mysterious car that was causing their disgruntled debate.

Tohji spoke in a firm voice everyone could hear. "He's actually correct, Ryosuke. A multimillion yen upgraded Hemi engine is sitting under the bonnet. The blower's not there for show. The suspension, chassis, and undercarriage modifications are another several million yen investment. Extreme modifications over a decade make that car worth close to eight million yen. Plymouth barracudas that had the custom ordered Hemispherical engines installed at the factory are very valuable to car collectors because the car company built so few. The values on this car include more than the matching VIN Hemi engine sitting under the hood. That car was supposed to have had the 4-40 six pack engine as this young man surmised. A print error at the dealership ordered this car have a Hemi engine installed. The factory honored the unavailable option when they built it. I've heard the collector's value is beyond comprehension because it is the only one of its kind. That vehicle is also a genuine champion competitor from the United States as your protégée guessed."

Itsuke nodded vigorously as he focused on Ryosuke and continued to build his case. "Old American cars are really heavy. Whoever owns that one has to have lots of cash to blow on parts, and the import taxes and shipping charges to get it here. That car probably has parts made in several countries that the owner fused into a very high performance monster."

Keisuke ignored Itsuke as he spoke. "Did you know the onna would drive her personal car, Tohji?"

"I thought she might since Samantha san drove it to the studio every day. It's truly a terrifying machine, Keisuke kun. I've gotten to see under that blower. The customization on that car took many years to complete. Samantha san started building that vehicle when she was in middle school. Her otosān's brother gave her the original wrecked car and told her to fix it up. She's put countless hours into doing so since he gave it to her."

"Doushite does that car look so familiar? Your story sounds familiar somehow, Tohji san." Itsuke was scratching his head as he muttered. Takumi watched his best friend rubbing his head while staring at the odd automobile.

"Perhaps it sounds familiar because Singing-Wolf won the last North American Iron Will Continental Endurance race in that ugly beast. Top professional drivers from her country shudder at attempting that particular course. It's said that the word endurance is the understatement of the century when applied to that somewhat obscure race."

"That's it! That's the car in the Iron Will Continental Endurance Commemorative pack my uncle sent me. That's the car on the front cover of the commemorative package, and the magazine's cover too. The headline says 'This Primer Pot's Solid Gold.'

Takumi jerked his head to look at his friend. "Itsuke, are you saying you have a magazine with that car on the front cover?"

"I think it's the same one. Remember. My uncle sent me the box set for my birthday two years ago? It came with a cd soundtrack on the computer CD-ROM, a magazine, and the mind grinder video footage too. The pack has fully blueprinted design specs on the winning car, plus the other four top cars that finished the race."

"Hai. You loaned me the music cd."

"You never paid attention to any of the videos I brought in for minnasan at work. I played the Mind Grinder when we first started working at the gas station, Tak." Itsuke folded his arms with his classic disgruntled expression. "Now I know the reason your story sounds so familiar, Tohji san. I read the translation notes my uncle included. They gave the history on each car. The A.A.R. that won the race is the only one that ever got a Hemi engine straight from the factory. I remember reading about the paperwork glitch. Two cars that weren't supposed to get hemi engines the company shipped to the same dealership before the mistake was found. They recalled one before the dealership sold it. They installed and returned the normal 4-40 six-pack engine version to the dealership. The car company tracked the other car down, but the owner refused to return it to the factory. The car company tried to get it back through the courts, but dropped the case because the owner had paid the higher price for the hemi engine that they installed."

"Correct again, Takeuchi kun. Samantha san told me about how much trouble her uncle had over that purchase. Because of his ethnic background, and military service, most military servicemen sent in complaint letters that generated concerns about public backlash if the company continued to pursue the lawsuit. The car company washed their hands of the situation when told that the dealership factored the hemi engine's price into the car's sale. If they forced the issue, they would be breaking the signed sale contract on the car. Her uncle gave Samantha the car when she was thirteen. An accident had badly damaged the rear end, but her uncle kept it because he had fought to keep it when it was new."

"True. Samantha san fused the original Hemi front end A.A.R. to the rear end of a front totaled A.A.R. body bought at a scrap yard. The blue print specs on the champion's car are really amazing. They even show how the mechanic fused and reinforced the two halves into a solid frame. The onna who won that endurance race has a genius mechanic. The magazine says she set world records over several days in her heavily modified car. I'll get the magazine, and show it to minnasan."

"Matte. Are you serious about that junker winning a foreign race?" Kenta demanded in an uncomprehending tone.

"Hai, Kenta kun. Singing Wolf san also did a marvelous job of handling stunts that even I don't have the credentials for at this point." Tohji added.

"Tohji san, I thought it takes four years to get all of the credentials needed to do really dangerous driving stunts. Didn't you say the tests get broken into manageable chunks as time allows? Does this onna actually have all four levels of credentials?" Keisuke was not the only driver Kenta idolized Takumi decided as he looked at the annoyed Red Suns racer.

"Samantha's younger than I am, but very talented, Kenta kun. Her nation has different regulations on stunt driving. However, Samantha's a licensed American Embassy driver, so be sure to treat her with respect. All nations highly train embassy drivers in evasive technical driving skills. She can do stunts in a multi metric ton vehicle that I could never handle during high speed cornering."

"She's had plenty of practice driving. From what Tohji told us, Singing Wolf san sounds similar to Fujiwara. I'd say that all the years of experience she has behind the wheel qualified her to handle very dangerous driving stunts, Kenta." Ryosuke added.

"Samantha san's connection to the American Embassy made it easier to get the work done, with fewer hassles. International courtesy made my life much easier after she walked onto the set." Tohji's tone was tart as he looked at each Project D team member in turn.

"She's also a genuine professional race car driver, isn't she?" Fumihiro spoke up with a touch of excitement in his voice.

"iie, the Iron Will foundation only exists to raise money for children's charities. The charities they raise funds for specialize in helping terminally ill children get needed medical care. The Iron Will Continental Endurance race is a nonprofit, open enrollment street race. Drivers from any country who have the time, and finances to be involved, can compete. A lot of people enter it because of the benefits that dying children receive, not because they care about winning the grueling race. Few ever cross the finish line, but they still return to compete every three years." Tohji explained.

"I've never thought of street racing as a charity activity. How long is this race, Tohji san?" Takumi asked out of curiosity.

"It's very long, Fujiwara. It starts in New York State and crosses into the Canadian mountains along the United States border, then down the west coast of California. It drops into the nation of Mexico. The course swings back into America through the state of Texas. It finishes at the original starting line in New York State. It's acknowledged as one of the most brutal endurance courses the world offers because every day has a set time limit to complete a specific distance, or referees disqualify the drivers. Drivers can go past the set distance if they have made good enough time, but not under it."

Keisuke glanced at the car again as he spoke. "I've read a couple articles about that race in magazines, Fujiwara. It's run every three years. Most of the competitors don't finish the first quarter because of drastic terrain and driving conditions. Completing the distance requirement within a set time is very difficult during the mountain terrain section."

Takumi wondered when the two people in the vehicle would finally talk to them. On the one hand he was relieved because he doubted he would be comfortable with the foreigner. On the other hand, Akimoto had already made a very bad impression that they could only repair by apologizing to Singing Wolf. The teen hoped the American woman would not assume all of Project D was like Akimoto.

Tohji's voice drew his thoughts back to the conversation. ". . . mix different types of road conditions such as dirt and pavement, mountain passes, and flat straightaways, icy climates, and hot sandy deserts. It's currently the longest kilometer length race in that hemisphere."

"Did you bring the video footage with the magazine, Takeuchi?" Ryosuke asked with definite interest in the race Tohji and Itsuke described.

"Hai. There's a CD-ROM for computers that show the top five cars' blue prints and plays the favorite driving music of the top three drivers. The magazine didn't cover every modification in depth. I brought the whole set to show Kenta this evening." Itsuke answered.

"I'm interested in looking over your commemorative set, if you would be willing to loan it to me for a few days, Takeuchi?"

"My roommate and I can wait to see everything, Itsuke kun. Ryosuke san needs the information in case Project D has to battle that car." Kenta spoke up.

"Sure. I'll loan the set to you, Ryosuke san." Itsuke scrambled to get his duffel bag.

-oo0oo-
- 25
- 26
- 27
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Alternate Tracks 2nd Story in Rivalry Series