RWBY – On the Line

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Summer grinned as she flew down the front stretch at The Circuit of Vale, leading her class at the two hour thirty minute mark. A bright blue Prototype class car flew past her on the left, the car belonging to her husband, Taiyang Xiao Long, as he lead his class in putting the slightly slower GT Sports class yet another lap down. Not that it really mattered. The Remnant International Sports Car Racing Organization (RISCRO) ran two different classes of cars in one race, and scored each class separately. Summer chuckled as she braked for the first turn, a sharp left-hander after a short uphill sprint. Being almost eighty points ahead of second place in the GT Sports class, these last two races were just a formality. She could have not run this race and could sit out the season finale at Patch Circuit and still win the championship. But what fun would that be?

The real fight was currently in the Prototype class anyway, between the two points leaders Taiyang and his brother-in-law Qrow Branwen. Speaking of, a black Prototype flashed its lights in Summer's mirror and she pulled out of the preferred line into turn two, and allowed Qrow to pass on her on the right to chase down Tai; frowning again at the breaks as she moved through the esses that made up turns three through nine, with a longer right-hander in the middle for turn six. The brakes on her Taijitu Sports car had been acting weird for more than an hour now, but with only ten minutes left in the race, she pushed the problem to the side, electing to take a less aggressive attack. She was about thirty six seconds ahead of the rest of the GT field and there was no sense in destroying her car with only a handful of laps left.

She braked, frowning again, as he went through the left hand hairpin turn eleven and onto the back stretch, one of the longest straightaways on the schedule. Three more Prototypes passed her on the left as turn twelve was one of the best passing spots on the track. She entered the braking zone for the sharp left-hander and stepped on the brake – only to have the petal go to the floor. Silver eyes widened as Summer hit the turn at over hundred and twenty miles an hour, flew off the racing surface and into the sand sideways where the tires caught, flipping the car violently into the air before stopping dead in the Armco and catch fence.

The yellow flag was displayed and with only six minutes left in the race, Taiyang would be declared the winner as Qrow was unable to catch his teammate that lap. Tai, unable to see who had crashed due to the car being upside down in the Armco, celebrated for the last few laps of the race under the full course caution and all the way into the pits after the checkered was shown under the yellow, until a crew member told him it was his wife who had crashed and was on her way to the hospital right now. Immediately, he left the track to get to the hospital, skipping out on the podium and award ceremony. The ceremony was muted, and nobody celebrated as news reached the track that Summer Rose had passed away from her injuries, mostly from a broken neck from stopping abruptly in the Armco.

Next week had a similar ceremony, with Taiyang gazing at the GT points championship podium, where the first place spot was left empty, its champion not there to claim the prize.

(Present Day)

Ruby was excited. Her sister, Yang Xiao Long, had already run this race, and even placed third last year. This year, Ruby would join her in driving the short race at Patch Raceway, a small and relatively quiet race track and drag strip on the small island the two sisters called home. At least, quiet compared to the other circuit on Patch, Road Patch Circuit. The annual race was a multi class race, with to different classes of privately entered cars competing for the prize. Yang would be in the 'A' class with her current model Tijitu and sitting on pole. Ruby was sitting seventh on the grid, and in a classic model Tijitu that barley made the minimum requirements for the 'C' class race.

"Relax, Ruby! You'll do fine." Cheered Yang as she walked up to her sister, who was clearly not thinking she would be fine. "It's only your first race. Don't worry about winning. Hell, I didn't even finish my first race. You just have to relax, getting worked up right before the race won't do you any good."

"That's easy for you to say!" Ruby yelled. "You're sitting on pole with a great car! All I have is this old thing. And I spent more time on the paint job than I did on the engine!"

Yang took a moment to admire her sister's car. While the new models from Tijitu looked sleek, they couldn't compare with the classic 'Dust Ray' Tijitus. And Ruby had painted the car silver, after her mother's signature color and Summer's symbol on the driver's side door. "It looks amazing. And mom would be proud to see you driving her colors."

Ruby smiled a bit "You think so?"

"I know so." Yang smiled. "Now let's go out there and make this a family party in victory lane!"

It wasn't long before the 'A' class cars lined up on the starting grid. Ruby watched from her car in the 'C' class grid sitting back on the drag strip that was used for the front stretch next to pit lane. The lights on the starter's stand next to the line flashed red, then green as the twelve 'A' class cars shot away from the grid. Immediately, the cars around her started up and Ruby put her car in gear as the 'C' class cars moved up to the grid for their start. Stopping at the seventh place spot on the grid in the outside lane, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nervousness. When she opened her eyes, something clicked and Ruby finally felt ready to drive her first race.

The lights flashed red, than in an instant turned green and Ruby stepped on the gas too aggressively and spun her tires on the start, dropping her back to ninth. It was just as well, at the first turn the car running eighth wheel hopped the inside kerb and slid to the outside of the corner and into the grass, right where Ruby would have been.

Ruby sped down the short straight after one, and into turn two, a long sweeping left-hander that brought the field around the end of the drag strip. She followed the car in front of her down a small hill into three a, a sharp right hand one-eighty, immediately into three b, a sharp left hand one-eighty and onto the back stretch, that wasn't really all of that straight. After the back stretch, came a shallow left-right bend for turn four and a sharper left-right for turn five that lead right into turn six, a tight left-hander. After a short stretch came turn seven which was also the turn off at the end of the drag strip. Turn Seven lead into turn eight, a left hand one-eighty and right into the right handed nine, which put the track parallel to the drag strip just a few feet away. Turn ten moved the track back onto the strip and with that lap, Ruby finished her first lap in race conditions.

Her confidence boosted, Ruby slid to the inside of the car she had been following to pass in turn one. The other driver didn't even try to block, just let her take seventh. She caught up to sixth in turn two and rode right behind him through the threes. On exit to three b, he spun his tires, and Ruby went to the inside and passed him through four. She finished the lap chasing fifth, catching him on the front stretch. She faked to the right in turn one and he bought, sliding to block and Ruby went left, taking the inside line through two, passing him before they were half way around. On the lap after, she caught fourth, but couldn't find an opining to pass. Two laps later, the 'A' class cars came driving through, with a familiar bright yellow Tijitu leading the pack. Yang passed Ruby on the inside of turn seven, and the 'C' class car in fourth took the outside line into eight to let Yang pass, and Ruby just followed her sister through the inside before being passed by the class 'A' second place.

Three laps later, she had caught third coming through nine onto the front stretch. Ruby locked onto the car and began setting up a pass in turn two when a flicker of motion caught her attention. The white flag was being waved from the flag stand. Is it really lap ten already? She thought as they thundered across the line. The other driver took a defensive line into two, but Ruby drove around the outside attempting to out brake the other driver. They came out of the turn side-by-side, but Ruby had the preferred line into three a, but she spun her tires on exit to three b and the other driver got right by her again. Ruby growled at the mistake, and kept her car right on the other's bumper in an attempt to pressure the driver into making a mistake. He did make one, the dame one she just made and spun his tires on exit from six trying to stay ahead. Ruby pounced and passed him on the inside and kept a defensive line through the rest of the track, yelling in victory as she crossed the line in third.

Ruby was cheering for the whole cool down lap and had a huge grin as she pulled into the pits. She parked her car next to her sister's, who was already out of her car and taking off her helmet. Ruby undid her belts and climbed out of the car yelling "Yang! I did it! I made the podium!"

Yang smiled, "I know, the leaderboard is right there." She said as she pointed out the board next to the pits. "That's really impressive for your first race."

"I knew you had it in you, squirt!" Came a rough voice from behind her. Ruby spun around to see her uncle, standing with a grin on his face.

"Uncle Qrow! I did it! I finished the race!" She yelled as she danced around in excitement.

Qrow snorted. "Yep. You certainly take after your mother. Your sister is a daddy's girl. He crashed out on his first race too, while Summer passed half the field to take the last spot on the podium. The very spot you just won." He said as Ruby grinned up at him. "Now go to the podium. There's a ceremony that needs you to start."

The sisters grinned and ran off to the winner's circle as Qrow watched. He turned to a man walking up with gray hair and a cane. "That wasn't bad for her first outing."

"Wasn't bad?" The man replied. "If I didn't know better I'd say that she had been racing for the last five years. The way she set up the passes, and how she could assess the situation and find the best way to get around someone is a rare skill, especially for it to be natural talent. I was already going to offer to your oldest niece, but I think I have to offer to both now."

Qrow sighed. "You know Tai won't like that. He only tolerated them racing one a year her because he thought they would not be found here. That they would stay here for their whole career without moving into the faster cars, and the danger."

The man sighed as well. "Will he let them?"

"He couldn't stop them if he tried. This is what their passionate about. They want to do this more than anything in the world."

"Then I'm going to ask." The man stated, "Will you still be lead engineer?"

"Of course." Qrow snorted. "Then I can guarantee that their cars won't break."

The man nodded. "It will be good to have you back, Qrow." He said as he walked off.

"Gah! I almost had it! That second place girl with the pink hair, who was following me for the whole race gave me the 'bump and run' in turn eight on the last lap! The last lap! I was SO CLOSE!" Yang yelled. She had been yelling ever since they left the award ceremony. As Ruby walked with her sister to their uncle's truck where he was loading their cars onto a flat trailer, a voice called out,

"Win or lose, it often happens in the last lap."

Ruby and Yang spun around to see a man with a cane leaning up against a nondescript car.

"My mom used to say that." Ruby muttered.

"And I herd it a lot." The man said. "Often aimed at your father."

Yang spoke up, "You're Ozpin, aren't you? Uncle Qrow talks about you a lot."

The man nodded. "I am."

Ruby gasped. "You're the owner of Beacon Motorsports!"

"I do," He confermed. "I came out here to do a final assessment on Yang, only to find a silver car, with a very familiar symbol on the door run circles around the lower class competition." The two sisters exchanged a surprised look. "As it turns out, I have two spots open right now, one in the Prototype class and one in the GT Sports class that need to be filled before the start of the season. Would you like to race with the team your parents all raced on?"

The sisters stood in shock, unable to fully comprehend what Ozpin just said.

Yang finally spoke up, "Like, race for the RISCRO championship?"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. The season starts in a few months, so you'll have some time to get used to your respective cars, but the twenty four hours of Mistral is coming up fast. And the Schnee machines still look faster than ever. I'm going to need the best team of drivers to beat them."

The sisters shared one final look before Yang said, "If Ruby is in, than I'm game."

Ruby mumbled "Are you sure I'm good enough? That's a big step for me to take, and I'm really young."

Oz nodded. "It would be unusual. But not unheard of. And if you have half of the natural talent Summer had, you will fit right in. And if today is to judge off of, you have every bit of raw talent she did."

Ruby nodded. "Then I'm in too."

Ozpin nodded. "Excellent. We'll meet in about a month on a track on the mainland to have a 'test day', so you can meet the rest of the team and start getting used to the cars. I look forward to seeing you then." He said as he climbed into his car. "And before I forget, congrats on your race today. You two are so much like your parents."

He drove off as Yang squealed with glee "We're going to be professional drivers!" and ran to tell their uncle. But Ruby just stood there, left with a similar feeling.

She was out of the car.

And she was nervous again.

So, I'm addicted to the IMSA Whethertech championship, and so I figured why not write a story about a season of it? This story will be loosely based off of the aforementioned racing series (If you haven't seen a race go check it out, this season is all on youtube) and I will be using the rules as well as the schedule. As you probably could guess, The Circuit of Vale is The Circuit of the Americas and Road Patch is Road Atlanta. Patch Raceway is based off of Pacific Raceway in Washington. The 24 hours of Mistral is the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

If something in the real world inspired the events in this story I will do my best to point them out in the A/Ns (Probably the crashes and stuff) as well as the tracks I use. Enjoy! -OMOB