Chapter 10

22 Years Ago

Taiyang had been dating Summer for a few months. At first he had been a bit concerned about the potential complications that could arise from being in a romantic relationship with his teammate, but he had a good feeling about it. They understood each other in a way that he and Raven never had. For all the time they had spent together, for some reason he had never really watched her drive. Sure, they had driven side-by-side in practice sessions and races, but being behind the wheel himself, it was difficult to really pay attention to what she was doing.

When F1 arrived at Signalstone for the Patch GP, Taiyang finally got his chance. It was not an ideal situation. He went out at the start of practice and his engine did not survive the opening lap. The team was not going to get it fixed in time to get back out, so Taiyang had an hour to kill. He went up into a mostly-empty section of grandstand and just watched the cars go round. Naturally he focused on Summer. He was struck by just how slow she was. He could tell just by looking that she was not pushing nearly as hard as she could. With each lap she got slightly faster. Eventually she went too fast through the final turn, dropped her left-side wheels into the grass and spun. She looped the car around and kept going. After that she ran another ten laps. On every single one she ran the exact same line, inch perfect. It was incredible. Then she returned to the pits, got more tires and fuel and went back out. Summer ran lap after lap, still perfect. No wonder she was so fast. Taiyang had more of an instinctive feel for the car and track, but Summer was like a finely tuned machine.

After the practice session ended Taiyang returned to the garage. "What were you doing out there?" He asked Summer.

"What do you mean?" Summer asked.

"You started out slow, then you spun out." Taiyang replied. "It was like I was watching a novice. Then your driving totally changed. You were fast and almost robotic. It's like you flipped a switch."

"Oh, I do that at every track the first time I go." Summer said. "Well, every track with a little runoff room. This one gives me a lot of room to experiment. The best way to find the limit is to go over it. Of course it would be stupid to go way over the limit - that would get me killed - but if I work up to it incrementally, I can find it without too much drama. Once I get it figured out, it's just a matter of repeating the same thing over and over. Is that not normal?"

"No, no way." Taiyang replied. "Not for me at least. I can just feel it."

"What if your feeling is wrong?" Summer asked.

"It's usually not." Taiyang answered.

"I can't argue with the results." Summer said. "I guess I just don't have the same feel you do."

"It wasn't always so easy." Taiyang admitted. "When I was younger I did more crashing than most. As much as it's instinct, there is some learning to my technique. With time you'll probably get there."

"Well until then I guess I'll have to keep doing it my way." Summer said. "It's worked pretty well so far."

Taiyang qualified on pole for the race with Summer second. He overdrove the first turn and she got around him. He spent the whole race chasing her. He would catch up only to make a mistake and fall back again. Summer just kept running her own race, hitting the same exact marks every lap. In the end she won handily, her first F1 victory. Taiyang was thoroughly impressed with her driving. He was also impressed and relieved by her humility. Most racing drivers were braggarts but Summer never made a big deal about beating him. To him she seemed perfect in every way. The two were married by the end of the year and Ruby was born about a year after that.

Present Day

Taiyang decided he had to watch Ruby race. Sure, he was terrified at just the thought, but he had to do it. It was his duty as a parent. He had technically watched her run the Vacuo 500, but had gotten so drunk to calm his nerves that he hardly remembered a thing. Watching races on tape delay was easier. When he knew nothing bad would happen, his nerves were calmed considerably. Unfortunately, with all the rain Menagerie it told him little and Ruby was out in the first corner at Vytal. He had to see her live and in person. He decided Singalstone would be the ideal track.

Signalstone was the site of the very first F1 grand prix and had changed little since then. Normally tracks that had not changed in decades were deathtraps, but Signalstone was different. The track had been built on a disused military airfield, utilizing the runways and taxiways. As such, there were no trees, buildings or other dangerous obstructions anywhere near the circuit. It had wide runoff areas in many of the corners, the barriers were robust and extensive to keep the cars away from serious danger, and the track workers were numerous and well-trained.

If there was one place where Taiyang could be reasonably sure Ruby and Yang would be safe, it was Signalstone. It did not hurt that it was close to home. The girls would be thrilled to know he would be in attendance. Taiyang decided to get a regular grandstand ticket. He picked a spot where he had once sat many years ago. Through practice, time trials and the race he would sit there and just watch. There he could remain somewhat detached. He might even be able to pretend it was still the good old days, back when he could watch a race without feeling sick. Qrow would be in attendance too, but he decided to watch from the Beacon GP garage. He may have shared Taiyang's fears, but he drowned them with alcohol just as he had for so many years already.

Just before practice, Taiyang took his seat high in the grandstands overlooking the final corner, The Cut. It was a fast right-hand sweeper. Actually, that was a pretty good description of most of the track's corners. The track was basically just five sweeping right-hand turns and three flat-out left-hand kinks. The Cut just happened to be the fastest corner that could not be taken without slowing. That made it probably the trickiest on the track. It was also the most dangerous. The combination of speed and less runoff area than any other corner made it particularly treacherous.

Practice began and Taiyang began to feel sick. He did not want to watch as the silver cars piloted by his daughters swung around The Cut lap after lap. He forced himself. He could not help but notice how similar Yang's driving style was to his own. She was immediately fast, slinging her car through the corner with abandon, always on the very edge. Ruby was very different. She was slower, tentative. That could be down to her inexperience or maybe she was scared. Taiyang could not have blamed her for either. As the practice session wore on Ruby got progressively faster but was still off the pace of the front runners. The real surprise was Weiss who led the session from Yang and Pyrrha.

In the weeks leading up to the Patch Grand Prix, Pyrrha had watched with interest as Weiss made wholesale changes to her chassis. Nora and her subordinate mechanics complained but ultimately made the desired changes. Pyrrha had considered ordering the changes for her own car but decided to see how things went first. She could tell that Weiss had a different philosophy. Weiss wanted a car that was perfect, tailored to her style. Pyrrha just asked for a car that was good enough, then made up the difference with her skill. If she asked for changes they were small.

Now Pyrrha was beginning to regret not adopting Weiss' revised chassis. The suspension geometry and weight distribution made for a much more comfortable car, if not a naturally faster one. It gave Weiss the confidence she needed to get the most out of the car. Pyrrha's setup might have had more potential speed, but it was on a knife edge and Pyrrha was forced to hold back a bit, at least in practice. In time trials and the race she could afford to push it.

The second and third practices were very similar to the first. The real surprise though, was Ruby. She gained more time from the first session to the last than anyone. In the final practice she placed fourth, just behind the top three that had remained the same. If she continued her improvement, she would be in with a shot at the pole by the end of time trials. Taiyang could not help but feel like he was watching the reincarnation of Summer. She and Ruby had such a similar style. It was eerie. It made him cry.

Meanwhile, Winter and May struggled. Signalstone was a fast track but handling counted for more than at many other circuits. Their cars were just not up to the task. On the straights they could outrun anyone, but in the long sweeping turns they were hopeless. At least May could be satisfied that she was posting times close to Winter's. The last thing she wanted was to be dominated by her teammate again.

Qualifying was tightly contested. As the session wound down the order was Pyrrha, Weiss, Yang and Ruby, all with a realistic shot at the pole. After a sizable gap came May, Sun, Winter, Reese, Coco and Neptune, all within a second of one another. The struggles displayed by Schnee Automotive had continued into time trials and only seemed to get worse. As usual it was all going to come down to one last run.

Ruby slowed before The Cut. She needed to get a good run through the corner to start her lap. She took an unorthodox line that maximized her exit speed and blasted out onto the frontstretch. She flashed across the line to start her lap and was soon on the brakes for the first corner, Woods. It was another fast right-hander, only a little tighter than The Cut. Ruby hit her apex perfectly and roared off the corner, using every inch of the track on exit. After a short straight was the first of the flat-out left-hand kinks, Moor. With only a slight turn of the steering wheel Ruby was through and then back on the brakes for the track's tightest corner, an acute right-hander called Saint. Ruby got on the throttle as soon as possible and got a good launch out of the corner. Almost immediately it was time for the second left-hand kink, Church. She had no trouble with it and ran down the long straight that followed, pushing her engine to the limit.

Ruby braked hard for the following right-hander, School. She got a fast exit, a wide paved area outside the technical boundary of the track allowed her to swing her car out for maximum speed. Then after a short blast it was on the brakes again for Mall, another right-hander. After a good exit she headed for the trickiest of the three left-hand kinks, Monastery. She wrenched her car into a slide, clipping the kerb on the inside of the corner before swinging all the way out to the edge of the grass on exit. She was flying now, heading straight for The Cut. She raced under the crossover bridge that spanned the track before getting hard on the brakes. She turned in and got back on the throttle as soon as possible. Maybe a little too soon. Ruby's car pushed to the outside edge of the track on corner exit and her left-rear wheel just got into the grass. The car started to spin right toward the wall separating the track from the pits. Ruby quickly jerked the steering wheel back to the left. The car slid across the track, just clipping the wall with its right-rear tire. The suspension was bent and Ruby limped across the line to complete a lap that did not improve on her best time. Before her mistake she had been on pace for the front row but she would have to settle for fourth.

Weiss grabbed the pole, fractions of a second ahead of Pyrrha. Yang was a strong third. Behind Ruby, Sun took fifth, followed by May, Winter, Reese, Neptune and Arslan. Pyrrha now thoroughly regretted not adopting Weiss' modifications. Pyrrha had taken pole and won the previous race at Signalstone and had been expecting a repeat performance. Weiss, for her part, was thrilled to show that she could compete with her teammate. The same went for May though both Schnee Automotive drivers were disappointed in their cars' performance. Even Ruby was encouraged. Though she had damaged her car and ruined a fast lap, it would be fixed for the race and that lap had been a real flier. Still, the race was what really mattered.

Ruby could not help but look to the stands as she waited with her car on the grid. Even amongst the sea of cheering fans she could pick out her father, standing in the back row just as he had been all weekend. He looked as nervous as she felt. After parking on the grid she had run to the garage to throw up. She was feeling extra nauseous today. After a dismal Vytal GP the pressure was on, doubly so because she was racing at home. At least she could take comfort in knowing she was not alone in her worry.

Yang was nervous too. A year that had started with such promise seemed to be slipping away. She was still worried about her ribs too. They had not hurt all weekend, but then again, they had not hurt before the race in Vytal either. She had been exercising obsessively and added extra padding to her cockpit to prevent a repeat of the last race's late slide down the order, but until the grand prix was underway she had no way of knowing if it was enough. She had other things on her mind too, but for now she was able to push them away.

The cars rolled around the track for their parade lap before reforming on the grid. The starter raised his flag and Taiyang held his breath. The green flag dropped and the cars launched forward, heading for Woods. Weiss got there first with Pyrrha trailing. Yang and Ruby arrived side-by-side, but Ruby yielded the corner like a good teammate. At Beacon GP there was no #1 driver, but Ruby knew Yang was the one in with a shot at the title. The field got away clean and raced away from the frontstretch grandstands. Taiyang used the lull to vomit off the side, much to the chagrin of those below.

May passed Sun for fifth on the third lap. Winter seemed unable to keep up with the pair. It was not down to skill or setup. Something about the engine was off and it was not running right. It only lowered its output a little, but at a fast track where the team's only advantage was power, it was enough to prevent her from moving up. At least she had a gap to the cars behind. If Winter was lucky the problem would not be terminal, maybe a bad spark plug or something simple like that. Of course it was equally likely that the engine would tear itself apart any second. She kept going. There was no reason to stop until she was sure.

Up at the front Weiss and Pyrrha were clearly the fastest. Yang and Ruby were able to stay with them thanks to the draft, but they could not mount an effective challenge. Pyrrha was challenging Weiss though. At every opportunity she would peek out of line, gauging Weiss' reactions. After a few looks it was clear that Weiss was not going to give in easily, even if it meant blocking rather forcefully. Pyrrha's car was not great anyway. She did not seem to have the same level of grip on corner exit. It was not all sunshine and rainbows for Weiss though. Her car was massively improved from the one she had driven in Vytal, but it was still not entirely to her liking. It was too twitchy on throttle for her taste and having Pyrrha disrupting the air coming off her rear wing only made it more unstable. Pyrrha had to contend with understeer caused by Weiss' wake, but understeer would not cause her to crash. Snap oversteer could put Weiss in the barrier in a second.

Ruby was content to ride behind Yang. She was thrilled to be running just as fast. Even had she not been benefitting from the draft, Ruby was confident she could keep up. After working all weekend she was finally comfortable. It had been a lot of work and harrowing at times, but it was paying off. If she had to go through it at every track it would be rough, but at least it would be livable. Yang was feeling good too. Even as the race approached halfway she felt fresh and strong without a hint of pain. She was back, finally. If Weiss or Pyrrha slipped up, Yang would be ready to pounce.

Things up front were more or less stable but there was a spirited battle going on just outside the points. Reese, Neptune and Arslan battled for eighth. Reese had been incredibly fast ever since taking over for the late Bolin. Neptune and Arslan both had more experience but found getting past difficult. Reese struggled to set consistent laps but every time Neptune got close enough to pass she would pull it together and pull out a gap. Neptune would inevitably spend a few laps fighting off challenges from Arslan before Reese would fall back to the pair again. On lap 47 Reese dropped back a bit and Neptune made a run to pass on entry to School. He dove to Reese's right and got beside her car. They ran through the corner side-by-side but Neptune's car oversteered badly. It was all he could to just to save it. He did not just fail to pass Reese, he lost the position to Arslan as well.

As the laps wound down Weiss was having trouble with wear on her rear tires. She had been pushing too hard to keep ahead of Pyrrha, plus the disruption to the air off her wing was reducing rear downforce, and it was coming back to bite her. On lap 61 of 68, her rears broke traction under throttle on exit of Mall. She saved it and ended up on the right side of the track, the outside of the next turn but the preferred line to get a good entry. She would have stayed on that line but Pyrrha got a great run out of Mall. She looked to the left of Weiss before Monastery and Weiss moved left to block. They touched. The nose of Pyrrha's car just clipped the rear of Weiss'. Weiss went into a skid and slid wide of Monastery, running in a wide arc through the grass. Pyrrha's car was jerked left. She shot across the grass on the inside of Monastery and hit the dirt bank that surrounded the track. Instead of stopping her car it acted like a ramp and launched her skyward, her car tumbling end-over-end.

Yang began to round Monastery and noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked to see Pyrrha's airborne car cartwheeling straight for her. Yang made herself as small as she could inside the cockpit and Pyrrha's car slammed down side-first onto Yang's car just in front of the cockpit. Pyrrha's car flipped on into the grass and with her steering column broken Yang went off the track with her. Weiss was still running through the grass. She kept going and rejoined the track about halfway between Monastery and the bridge, but the sizable delay had let Ruby into the lead.

As Yang's car rolled to a halt she became aware of a few drops of red liquid on her visor. It looked like transmission fluid, probably from Pyrrha's wrecked car. When Yang reached up and touched it, she came to a terrifying realization. It was blood. Pyrrha's blood. Yang ripped off her helmet and balaclava and tossed them into the grass beside her car as she rushed to get out. The potential for fire should have worried her but she was only concerned about Pyrrha. She rushed to Pyrrha's car which had come to rest on its side with the cockpit facing away from her.

As Yang rounded the wreck she saw a beautiful sight. Pyrrha was crawling out on her own. The cockpit had been crushed and bent, so she was having some trouble. Aside from a nasty gash on her arm though, she looked uninjured. Yang grabbed Pyrrha under the shoulders and helped her out of the mangled hulk. With Yang's assistance Pyrrha stood. Pyrrha took of her helmet and balaclava and looked back at what remained of her car. It was barely recognizable as an F1 car and she knew she was lucky to be alive. The wound on her arm stung and though it bled badly, she knew it was not that big a deal considering.

Just as Pyrrha was about to walk away Yang suddenly embraced her. Yang squeezed her hard and buried her head in Pyrrha's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're alright." Yang said, her voice trembling. "When I saw your blood I…"

"Yang, are you crying?" Pyrrha asked.

Yang took a step back. "Yeah, sorry, I was worried." She said. "I don't know what I'd do if...you know…"

"You're starting to sound like you did at the Vacuo 500." Pyrrha observed. "You know, when you were drunk."

"Am I?" Yang asked. She seemed totally flustered. "Forget I said anything. I'm glad you're still in one piece. Let's head back to the garage."

"I think that's a good idea." Pyrrha agreed.

Ruby came around the track to see Pyrrha and Yang walking away from their cars. That was a relief. Ruby had seen the entire accident and it looked bad, particularly for Pyrrha. There was not time to dwell on it though. There was a race to run and Ruby was leading it with just a few laps to go. Weiss was behind her by a decent margin but charging. If Ruby made one slip or had one slow lap, Weiss would be there.

Ruby rounded The Cut one last time. Weiss was a few car lengths back. Ruby crossed the line to take the victory. She could not believe it. She broke down crying as she rolled her car around the track on the cool-down lap. The track workers stood at the edge of the circuit, waving their flags and cheering for their hometown hero. The fans surged forward, pressing against the fences as they cheered her on. Now Ruby knew how Yang must have felt when she won for the first time at Grand Patch. The Vacuo 500 may have been a bigger race, but today felt so much sweeter. Ruby returned to the pits, parking her car near the podium.

With the cars off the track, the gates were opened and the fans surged onto the frontstretch to get a closer look at the podium. When Ruby's name was announced and she stood on the top step, she did so overlooking a writhing, cheering sea of humanity. To top it all off they were chanting her name. Ruby looked around, searching for one person in particular. He was not there amongst the masses. She looked to his spot in the grandstands. Taiyang stood there applauding, tears of joy streaming down his face. Ruby was crying too. As the national anthem of Patch played she did not even bother to try to hold back the tears. It was a day Ruby had never even dreamed of, and yet here she was, atop the podium having won the Patch Grand Prix.

Weiss ended up second after leading almost the entire race. She was honestly just happy that Pyrrha was alright. She blamed herself for the accident. Her blocking was too aggressive sometimes. She apologized to Pyrrha immediately, even though Pyrrha tried to apologize for costing Weiss the win. Behind Weiss, May took the third step on the podium, followed by Sun, and Winter, whose engine had somehow survived. It turned out that a minor electrical issue had caused her problems. Reese took the final point. Arslan, Neptune, Coco and Emerald rounded out the top 10.

Standings after six races:

1st - Weiss Schnee - 28

2nd - Pyrrha Nikos - 24

2nd - Winter Schnee - 24

4th - Yang Xiao-Long - 23

5th - May Zedong - 18

6th - Sun Wukong - 12

7th - Ruby Rose - 11

8th - Arslan Atlan - 4

9th - Coco Adel - 2

9th - Reese Chloris - 2

11th - Fox Alistair - 1

11th - Neptune Vasilias - 1

Inspirations

- Signalstone is based on Silverstone. Yes, I am very proud of the name.

- Weiss' changes to the car are based on Niki Lauda's start in F1. After a few disappointing years with March, he bought a seat at BRM. Being a technical genius, he was able to instruct his personal mechanics (part of his contract) on how to make the car much better. He refused to divulge what changes had been made until his money was returned, which it was.

- Prior to the mid-to-late 90's, when a British driver took the victory at Silverstone the result tended to be chaos, with a complete breakdown in crowd control. After one of his victories Nigel Mansell had to pick his way through the crowd that had basically taken over the track on his cooldown lap.

Inaccuracies and Anachronisms

- Ruby's development as an inexperienced rookie is probably unrealistically fast, though it would not be unprecedented.

- The detrimental effects of having a car run close behind are probably overstated for the era, though modern cars would likely see that kind of problem.

- Dirt banks used as retaining walls for race tracks did have a nasty tendency to act as ramps, but Silverstone was better than most tracks in keeping them square.