Persistence of a Mountain Racer
Stage One: The New Arrivals
Disclaimer: This is my first fic and I decided that I would just write one after reading so many. . Any names or titles I use are not mine and I am not making any money from this. (I know there is a more official way to say that, but I don't wanna :P) Plus any of the places that I have labeled are made up, except for Tokyo and other actual locations. SO DON'T GET A MAP TO LOOK THEM UP!! Ok enough ranting, time for a story
Stage One: The New Arrivals
Rain… I hate the rain.
The water speckles down onto the windows of the Tanaka household. The "tink-tink" of the raindrops made a certain type of music that only people who are in tune with the elements and saw the beauty of nature could enjoy. Jin was not one of those people…
"Will it ever stop raining?!" Jin Tanaka squealed as he walks out of his room. Storming past his roommate's room, Jin walked down the stairs into the kitchen. His feet made a deep thunking noise as he walked, which was sure to wake someone up, but he didn't seem to notice. If he did, he didn't seem to care. Jin looked outside at the darkness as it continued to pour outside. It didn't look like it was ever going to stop. More importantly, his car was outside and he really hated for it to get rained on.
"Still looking at the rain?" a voice came from behind him. Jin turned around to see that it was his roommate, Taihosi Shinamora, of course with a tuning magazine under his arm. "You know, all that walking around you do makes it seem like there is a thunderstorm outside" Taihosi said as he snuck a small smile up on his face. "What ya making? Whatever it is I want some too. Damn I hate this rain" the young man said as he sat down at the counter that was in the middle of the small kitchen
Jin couldn't help but smile when Taihosi entered the room. The guy just started to talk and move around as if he was independent of everyone else, but at the same time he wanted everyone to be serving him so he didn't have to do anything at all. Jin and Taihosi had been friends since the two of them were in high-school, so Jin was used to it, but it still made him laugh. "I was going to make a sandwich and get some milk to go with it." Jin said as he set out one plate on the counter and started heading for the fridge to get some of the components of his sandwich. In the background, Jin could hear Taihosi say, "Where is my plate? I want some. Hey, Jin make me a sandwich too. Oh come on Jin, please!!!"
Jin let out a laugh as he reached into the fridge and grabbed some deli meats and bread, while Taihosi was shaking his head from side to side, his mop-top hair flinging around as if to flag Jin down from making his sandwich. "Fine, be an ass. Don't make be a sandwich. Be the worst friend in the world. Yep, this friendship is over." Taihosi said as he swung his magazine at Jin, missing by a lot, but still laughing nonetheless at his attempt. Jin started laughing too as he laid out two sets of bread.
"Looks like this weather kills our chance to going out on the mountain tonight doesn't it?" Jin said trying to change the subject back from the sandwiches to the weather. "I really wanted to get out there and carve up some corners tonight." Jin said as the "tink tink" of the rain started to get louder and just make Jin even more disappointed. Ever since Jin had moved to the Tirogara district, he had hoped to make a name for himself in the street racing community. Back where he used to live in Tokyo area, Jin would sit on the guardrails and watch as the racers would scream down the passes, he wished he could be just like that when he got older. From Toyota Altezza's to Mazda's famous rotaries, Jin started learning about them all, engines to exterior and as soon as he graduated high-school and started college at Harutan University, he got a license and started working toward a car. He did everything he could think of to earn enough money for a ride of his own, and when he had, he started to tune it slowly…but surely… That had been two years ago, but to Jin it still felt like he was taking his first baby steps.
"Jin, SANDWICH NOW!!!" Taihosi yelled, snapping him out of his daydreaming. Chuckling Taihosi smiled as Jin looked outside at the rain once more before starting to make his first sandwich. "Well the mountain will be there tomorrow. You do know that. So just make me my sandwich and shut the hell up…" his old friend said as the two of them just laughed.
The next morning, the two awoke to see that the sunlight was streaming into the kitchen. Jin let out a loud yawn as he stretched on the floor. He started to close his eyes again when a sultry voice jarred him awake. "Hey, you alive down there?" Jin bolted up, only to knock his head into a corner of the counter. "Damn it!" Jin yelled as he rubbed his head. "Watch your language!" the voice said to Jin. Looking up, he saw it was Rina Iwakya, his girlfriend, standing over him with a smile on her face. "Plus you left your car into the rain again. Nice move there." Jin smirked as he pulled on her jean pant leg, clinging to her as he slowly stood up, with one hand around her waist, giving her a hug as they both looked at Taihosi.
Taihosi who had been asleep on the counter sat up muttering, "I didn't put the meat into the photo copier Mommy!" before he went back to sleep. Both Jin and Rina laughed as they looked at each other and started laughing against, Jin tickling her sides. "How long have you been in here?" Jin said as he let her go and walked over to the window looking outside. Rina's SW20 was parked closest to the window, its yellow paint causing Jin to squint his eyes at its obnoxious brightness. "Just long enough to watch Tai Tai shout out the theme song to Ultraman six times in his sleep." Rina laughed a bit as she walked over to Jin who still was looking out the window, putting her arms around his waist and looking with him. "You know he hates you calling him that." Jin said as he looked over to Taihosi's car. His black Nissan S-14 sat next to Rina's MR2, its flared body kit reminding Jin of his excitable friend. Jin smirked at his friend's cars before he looked at his own car.
His beloved ride, a red Mazda FC3S, sat farthest in. Jin couldn't help but smile as he gazed at it longingly. He had driven this FC day and night for almost two years, he felt as if the rotary was a part of him. Jin closed his eyes and pretended he could hear its 13B engine revving at 7000 rpm as Jin screamed down in the mountain passes in his mind.
Jin was snapped back into reality again when Rina rubbed back against him, speaking into his ear. "So Jin, do you have any plans after class?" Rina said as he slid her hand into his. "Well Taihosi and I were going to run the mountain a few times after our classes were over." Jin said as he turned around to face her. "Well you know that I'm coming too. We're a team so if you run, we're all going to run." Rina said to him with a serious look on her face before smiling at Jin. Jin smiled at her face. "You make it sound like we're a team of a hundred instead of a team of three" Jin said as he looked out again at the cars. The sunlight glistened off the three cars in the driveway, as if to add a halo over the team decals that were placed at similar places.
The "Alpha Redline" decal flashed a bit at Jin as he smirked at the design. The three of them had been a team for officially six months, yet they had just found a home course to call their own. They had been scouting the area ever since the team was formed; challenging teams on their own courses, but had not found their own course until two weeks ago. Mount Ikaoia was its name. It was quite a drive from the Tirogara area, but at least it was theirs. It was full of drops and dips and sharp hairpins, as well as long straight-aways and high-speed corners, but none of them seem to come at any certain rhythm, at least nothing that Alpha Redline was able to master yet. For example, a high speed straightaway would lead into a sharp ball dropping hairpin and then into a tunnel which let into another hairpin. It wasn't the ideal course for the new team, but for those last two weeks, the team drove out to the mountain and made continuous runs to try and get a feel for the course. Nothing was coming just yet. Jin was the farthest along, with the fastest time that was recorded, but it wasn't fast enough. At least not to Jin, who had been turning down challenges for the past two weeks hoping that they would get a feel for the course by then. He couldn't keep doing that for long though, not if they wanted to say competitive.
"Well how about we meet you there after classes at 9pm?" Jin said to Rina as she let go of him. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you there" Rina said as she gave him peck on the lips before she turned around walking out of the kitchen, shaking her ass a bit as she walked out to her SW-20. Jin looked out the window as he watched her walk to her car, blowing her a kiss before looking back at the clock, the deep rumble of the SW-20 idling in the background. "Oh shit! I'm late for class!" Jin said as he smacked Taihosi on the head, running up to his room to pick up his gear for class.
A few hours later, Jin and Taihosi were waiting for Rina to arrive. Jin's FC idled in the parking lot at the top of Mount Ikaoia. A sharp wind blew through the area causing Jin to pull his jacket up over his neck as he waited. It was only 8:48 pm, so Rina still had a few more minutes to arrive, but Taihosi wanted to make some runs now. "Come on Jin, let's go already!!! We could get at least two runs in before Rina got here. That way we could be warmed up before she arrived!!! Come on Jin!!!" Taihosi said at Jin, sitting in his black S-14, his headlights lighting up the area as the young driver sat in his car with the AC on warm. "No man, I said I would meet her up here and that's what I'm going to do" Jin said as he looked down the road waiting for Rina to arrive.
"Oh come on man, let's just go…" Taihosi started to say before he was interrupted by the revving a car engine heading up the hill. "Finally, took her ass long enough." Jin smiled as he heard the engine revving up the hill, but started to look concerned as he heard another engine, and then another and another. Suddenly a pair of headlights came over the top of the mountain, followed by another one and another. Twelve cars drove up to the parking lot, revving a bit as they started to pull into the lot across from Jin's FC and Taihosi's S-14.
Suddenly the driver of a black S-13 and the driver of a white DC2 stepped out facing Jin and Taihosi. The driver of the S-13 was a slender man, kind of like Jin with blond hair, but it looked dyed. The driver of the DC2 was a woman. Very attractive, with short red hair and a very nice figure. Both of them walked from their cars, which were still idling and walked over to the two men. The other drivers just stayed in their cars looking at the whole situation most of them just smiling or nodding. Taihosi got out of his S-14 and looked at the drivers and folded his arms. "What can we do for you?" he asked as the man of the S-13 walked up to Jin. "Are you Team Alpha Redline?" the man asked Jin. Before Jin could respond, the woman walked up and said. "We're the Firestorm Flash Team based out of Kinana, and we're calling you to a battle!!!"
Jin shook his head a bit as he looked at the two drivers. He hadn't even heard of the Firestorm Flash team, but he knew that his team wasn't ready for a battle here not yet. "No dice… at least not yet" Jin said folding his arms looking at the man of the S-13. The man nodded back and was about to speak when the woman spoke up again. "Oh I understand. You're too weak to put up a decent fight…" Jin was about to explain the situation when Taihosi interjected. "Too weak? We'd wipe the streets with ya!" Jin looked over at his friend. "Tai, don't do it…" Taihosi looked back at him. "No, Jin. I'm sick of turning down challenges. We can beat these jokers!" he said as he swung his arms up into the air before looking at the woman. "We accept, Saturday 11pm!!!" Taihosi said rashfully. Jin balled his fists a bit looking at Taihosi and then the woman, hoping that she would understand that Taihosi was stressed and wouldn't accept his challenge. The women smiled at him and nodded. "11 it is. We'll be glad to hand you your asses!" She and the other man walked back to their cars and revved high before the group of drivers headed down the hill.
Taihosi smiled at Jin before noticing the scowl on his face. "Are you crazy? We're not ready for a battle here! And it's only Wednesday you idiot! How are we going to be ready in four days?!!!" Jin yelled at Taihosi, not noticing that Rina had pulled up in her SW20 and was running up to them. "What's going on? What's this about a battle? Who were those guys? Some one tell me something!!" Rina said looking at Jin.
Jin let out a sigh before smiling at Rina and Taihosi, and turning around, looking at his FC which had been idling the entire time. "Looks like we have some training to do…" Jin said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a stopwatch. "Let's go…"
ColeIketani: Ok this is the first chapter of my first fic! Please tell me what you think! You can send me mail or IM me or whatever you want! :P Next chapter coming soon!