FOREWORD: I, HashiriyaGDB, am submitting this Initial D facfic on behalf of Midnight Dorifuta, the author of this fanfic and a fellow user on the Initial D World Forums. The only things I've done to this is correct some (if not all) the typos.

All trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

Chapter 10: Ultimate Limit

It was an overnighter, the final efforts of Iketani Kouichirou and Itsuki Takeuchi put together - the rest of the team having long been gone, but the two slaying over and sweating through the night - over what, you ask? Beyond all the mechanical parts were other things that Itsuki personally wanted to see to . He wasn't kidding about turning his once-junker Levin SR into a tuned GT-APEX. He had also ordered an entire box full of spare parts in his arsenal - two gallons of Toyota Super Red paint and one gallon of generic Jet Black paint, a Nadro Torino steering wheel, and a quick release mount for it. There was also an Austrailian-market grille in there as well, that's been dipped in chrome, along with 5-spoke Enkei wheels in bronze finish matched to , suprisingly, 50-series Yokohama tires with an agesssive summer tread. What also lied next to the new wheels were a set of smaller Yokohama tires with a less agressive pattern and deeper tread... snow tires, for short.

In another box was the usual swimming-pool-amount of foam don't-break-me fittings and within that was also a new set of smoked rear taillights, with upper and lower trim. There were also budget-but-still-light-and-fairly-comofrtable racing seats ready to replace the current slide-around ones and strut tower braces, front and rear. Not only was it a full conversion to an AE86, but even now unpainted as it was, picturing it revealed a pretty car, if not looking much more than stock. Another msall package contained a "GT-APEX" sticker and a "Twin Cam 16" sticker, both in grey, actually. The final items were a black spoiler sourced from an AE86, but perhaps atop of all, the rarest and most interesting item that had even Iketani suprised when he opened the box; a digital gauge cluster, along with a steering column pod mount for the boost gauge and the unit itself. While the boost gauge was unsubstantial...

"Whoa, Itsuki... you didn't tell me about this! I didn't even know the AE86 had one of these!", Iketani said, at what was now 1 in the morning, examining it very closely.

"Yeah..." Itsuki said, chuckling a small bit as he took it from Iketani's grip and held the stock cluster next to it. "I was suprised to discover they existed, too, but I was also able to find it in a junker hachi-roku. Amazing the driver didn't keep it."

"Amazing indeed... your hachi-roku should definately look set-out from the other Levins with this grille... but tell me, Itsuki, it's an aftermarket one, right?"

Itsuki shook his head. "Nah, it's from the Austrailian-market hachi-roku. And apparently, they only got the Levin. But still... oh, man, Iketani. You have no idea how long I've waited for this day!"

"Indeed", Iketani nodded, with a look of pride on his face.

At 6AM, two hours before the Esso opened, after all the inside work was done and the trim pieces fitted and taped off, and a 'bubble' of plastic wrap set up around the area of the car, and the car's paint itself looking very dull and a few places where there were minor dents bondoed away and smoothed out, Itsuki stood before the 86 dressed in all white, and wearing a dust mask, armed with a paint gun. With a single pull of the trigger, black paint began spraying out in a fine, steady stream, Itsuki's old 85 only 2 or 3 away from being his ultimate Dream 86.

-

Back, the night before, things were beginning to heat up huge-time on the Wangan circuit. For quick review, Akiyuki Suzaki got passed from either side by two classic sportsters; a silver Toyota 2000GT and a midnight blue Nissan Fairlady Z, both probably north of 300 kilometers per hour, and Akiyuki had decided to join in on the fun, gunning the Starion for all it was worth, although the G54B was definately out-classed by whatever inline-six power rested under the hoods of the two mysterious GT's.

"Traffic up ahead... yosh", Akiyuki said to himself, noting the two cars slow way down for a slightly congested pack of traffic. It took him but 8 seconds to gain with the three, now all three cars traveling at about 90 kilometers per hour in the middle of a pack of traffic, Akiyuki's wedge seeming to be horrendously out-of-place with this out-of-the-blue pack of econoboxes and light trucks, the three Wangan runners effectively blocked any further progress from any of the three... until the Z jammed on its brakes for a quick second, diving all the way to the left side, and Akiyuki also following in his Starion, as the shoulder lane widened enough to pass traffic - illegally - on the left.

From there, Akiyuki saw the Z just squat and vamoose, in disbelief to the way it just giddy up and went, struggling, hustling, trying to hold on... but the Z just putting itself further and further in his head. Akiyuki's concentration was broken for a second as a car in his rearview continually flashed its highbeams and honked its hors... as if in this moderate pack of traffic, he could go in another direction, doing 250, 260, now 270 kilometers per hour, and reaching the top end of fifth gear. 15 seconds later, the traffic pack finally broke, but as Akiyuki tried to search ahead... he found that the Z was long gone. And the 2000GT from before pulled in front of him and began slowing down, blinkers on. The Toyota wanted Akiyuki to stop.

It only took a second for Suzaki to realise this was a great chance to meet the other fast car from the picture, the one he heard little to none about, only the fact it could keep up with - but not pass - the Phantom Z. Coming to a very slow rest, the young ex-WRC star climbed out of the Starion with a bit of a look of awe at the 2000GT - it was rare to see a beauty like this one, especially a - just like his U.S. market Starion - left-hand drive model. He watched as both doors popped open, and two figures stood out. It was quite different to what he expected; perhaps a gruff, old WRC star who had one o fhis old co-pilots in the passenger seat. Instead, he got eye candy appeal for both the male and female gender to gander over.

One was wearing a pair of red Momo driving shoes with white laces, very Schumacher-esque, and black socks, with a pair of stylish casual charcoal grey dress pants sporting high-cut legs, thus exposing the socks, along with a black leather belt holding the pants in place. From the pants up, the attire wasa dark-red tee shirt overlayed by a black sport coat. And finally, on top, was a pair of red-tinted aviator glasses that were quickly removed. On the driver's hands were a red pair of driving gloves, as well, and they stood on. The final touch was a single small crimson earring on the left ear, small like you would find on a diamond. The other figure was wearing gleaming blue dress shoes with long, black pantyhose going up to about mid-thigh, and a blue mid-length skirt that matched the shoes, save for a light blue stripe pattern that followed around horizontally. Above that was a small section of intentionally exposed skin revealing a not-very-thin-but-not-unattractive waist section, and a white button-up shirt that was also overlapped by a blue overshirt. No driving gloves here, but there was stylish half-rimmed blue glasses that stood on, with a progressive-tint frame. There were wonderful half-moon-shaped ear-rings on this figure, in reflective silver. Naturally, the male was the former and the female was the ladder.

Yet, as different as they were in apparel and gender, they both were strikingly similar. They both had caucasian... and pale at that... tone skin, were both about the same height - which was a very tall 6' 4", for the record - and both had long, straight, silvery hair that fell down to about 3 inches below their shoulders. For the male figure, he was a handsome - gorgeous, even - looking young man. But somehow, attractive as he was, definately rock-star material - at least in Japan, anyways - he was devoid of those regular girly pretty-boy characteristics. He was just masculine enough in facial complexity that there was no question to his gender. As for the female, she was jaws-to-the-floors smokin' hot, as any hetero man would put it, at least. The breasts - large, wholesome, and even through the bra and double-shirt, obviously packing some weight to them - no doubt natural, also sporting a rather large and decidely meaty rump... just what Sir Mix-a-Lot ordered. In short, Playboy-girl material. But, sorry, guys and girls, the one other detail they also shared identically were a pair of beautiful diamond wedding rings on their ring fingers. They were the kind of couple that were so great looking, you could only by jealousy hope their children came out ugly as sin. Another very unique feature both of them sported were - get this - elfen-like ears, protruding about 5" out from either side - and either's pair twitched slightly to the sounds they heard.

"Now, young boi, just whut were you dew-ing aut there?", the woman figure asked, speaking in English, with a unfamiliar and heavy accent. Unique like the rest of her, for the most part.

"Easy on 'im, he probably didn't know much better.", the man responded, looking to her. He had a very Northern accent... very New Jersey-ish, as a matter of fact. The type of accent that would make a Michiganite laugh every time one would say "Autozone", for instance.

"Shut up, hubby, I'll do the talking first, thank you very much", the woman replied, still carrying the heavy accent. author's note: I'm way too damn lazy to keep typing to exxagerate her accent

"Now then...", she continued, eyeing over the boy as she withdrew a thin cigar from... nowhere, seemingly and placed it in her lips, cupping her hand around it and the cigar then appearing lit, although how it was lit remains a mystery to this day. She continued forward until her figure towered over Akiyuki's small body - the hight difference putting Akiyuki's face square where just about any striaght man could only wish his head was. "You saw there was a race going on, and yet you got in the way. What are you, green to the rules of wangan?"

Akiyuki looked up, blushing deeply and trembling a little - not from intimidation, but actually, sexual... tension. "Well...", he tried to reply, in a low squeak, "Not... uhm... really..."

"What's that? I can't hear ya, boy. Do I need to lower myself to your head level or can you speak up? Or are these things", She said, grabbing the back of Akiyuki's neck and literally asphyxiating him with her rack, before pushing his head back - Akiyuki now in a state of utmost disbelief, for the record, - and continuing, "...distracting ya?"

The man couldn't help but to laugh rowdily at the situation, observing both the look on Akiyuki's nose-bleeding face and Karie's desdpan, sarcastic stare back at him. "You're going on him way too hard, girl.. and that kid's pretty good, for the record. 'is name's Akiyuki Suzaki, he's a WRC star who's career was self-terminated by bad fortune on his own and his sister's parts. So lighten up on 'im, willya? And let's introduce ourselves", he suggested.

"Oh sure, your mighty majesty", she replied, crossing her arms as he hopped off the quarter-panel of the 2000GT and approached Suzaki, chuckling a bit. His crimson eyes seemed... very... familiar. And similar but yet somehow opposite to the woman's mesmerizing blue eyes... that detail offset in Akiyuki's memory by how close he was to her breasts.

"For one, my name is Kealan Sandars, and that's my wife-by-pregnancy, Karie..", he said, glancing to Karie and giving her a stupid grin.

"Shut it, it was by love, you nit", she huffed - although she appeared to be struggling to keep a straight face now. She was also speaking Japanese for the moment, albeit with a hilariously foreign accent.

"And you kind of cut us off there, Akiyuki-san. What gives? It isn't like your style to try to block traffic with a drastically-slower car. You saw our speed when we blew by the Starquest, right? You should've just let us be."

Before Akiyuki could get in a word in, Karie continued to Kealan, "What difference does it make? We still can't pass that fking car, what would be different this time?"

"Meh... you're just being skeptical", Kealan replied, brushing off Karie's words like nothing and looking Suzaki in the eye once more. "Anyways, what gives, man?"

That accent... he's heard it somewhere before, but where? "Well... I seriosuly never wangan raced before, but... Kealan, do I know you from somewhere? I've never seen you before but... you're horribly familiar..."

"If I said I was a hardcore lover of the 60-chasis Toyota Celicas would that make life any easier?", he said, supressing a small chuckle. "Perhaps... a particular white-and-grey Celica Coupe, running a 1JZ-GTE? That ring a bell?"

"!!!" Looking up to Kealan, his eyes widened - yes, it had to be him! How was beyond Suzaki's comprehension, but there was no more doubt to who he was talking about! The color of his hair... and those crimson eyes. No doubt about it; the name was different, but it was totally him.

"Ka... ka... Kaworu-san!? But your name... and height... your ears... but how!?"

Kealan just short of chuckled and rolled his eyes a small bit, before patting Suzaki's hair and ruffling it a little bit, giving Suzaki a warm smile. "It's a long and complex story, old buddy, but yeah - it's me. Just remember to call me Kealan. Now then - what brings you from your little hideout in who-knows-where and your little garage of custom Starion parts out in the woods onto the Tokyo Wangan? Anything here catch your eye? Rumors of the Devil Z, perhaps?"

"...Devil Z? You sure you don't mean Phantom Z?", Akiyuki asked, with a bit of a bit of a curious look.

"Phantom Z? Who the hell's calling it the Phantom Z? It's the Devil Z", Karie blurted out, giving Suzaki a bit of an odd stare.

"Uhm... Asuka was talking about it - the description is identical to the-"

"Asuka said it? Heh... that figures. The next thing she'll be telling you is it's called a Phantom Z because it's so fast it's probably the ghost of an old racer driving it... right?", Kealanasked, shaking his head.

"Well, no, she said nothing like that. All she said was only Misato Katsuragi and a car description matching yours could keep up with it. That's it."

Kaworu chuckled feintly. "Well, at least not that much is off. She's right for the most part... Misato could only keep up and as far as the moment is concerned, it's the same for me... however, I believe the Z is reaching its ultimate limit. And when I do pass him, I'll finally find out who's behin dthat wheel... if he's still alive by then."

Akiyuki canted his head to the side a small bit, not quite sure of what to say. "Uhm... ultimate limit? And... if you can keep up, how can't you pass?"

"Well, the second one, kid, is simple", Karie butted in back in English, Akiyuki's head turning to meet her. "Ever heard of drafting, boy? When you move through the air, you carry a slipstream of air with you. This creates a small suction. At high speeds, the effect is drastic - enough for a car at 300 kilometers per hour with a fifty horsepower deficiency but an otherwise identical car to keep up with the lead car by making use of that he stays in the slipstream. Simple, eh?", Karie said, a small, thin line of smoke rising up from her cigar. "Now then, for the first part, everytime we try to follow the Z, the car's gotten progressively faster... from about three-hundred and twenty kilometers per hour to four-hundred and thirty-five to date. But each time since about 425, the increments in speed between runs have been progressively smaller. From ten-kilometer-per-hour increments to a six-kilometer-per-hour difference past 415, 5 from 421, and two-kilometer-per-hour increments these past two runs. We believe the car's absolute top speed is four-hundred-fifty kilometers per hour if it got a little more aerodynamically improved. But that engine's at its limit, it's probably a turbo L28 bored and stroked."

"So then, the ultimate limit you're talking about... is its highest top speed?", Akiyuki asked, adding two-and-two.

"Yep, that's about the gist of it, Suzaki-san... and we're one step away from Highest Tune for our 2JZ-GTE."

"2JZ-GTE!? No wonder you can keep up with him! I was thinking maybe a 7M, or probably even a 1J, since the engine's been around longer and better known, but jeezus, a 2JZ-GE under the hood of that!?" Akiyuki's jaw dropped. "This I gotta see."

And so Kealan freely opened the 'hood' of the 2000GT - but Akiyuki was wowed by the affect of that alone, first.

"Wow, you even replaced the hood, bumper and fenders with a single fiberglass nose piece! It's gotta be great for weight and aerodynamics", Akiyuki said with a grin. "And... wow. Jesus. Just, jesus. You switched from true twin turbo to sequential twin turbo... one medium-sized spool and one downright massive spool... an appropriately large radiator... intercoolers on either side, excellent custom duct-work... high-voltage ignition module, yes, yed... a fairly stock looking basic 2JZ-GTE layout save for the - hey, it's got manifold -feeding ITB's, just like my G54B! But the core engine itself looks pretty stock."

Kealan chuckled in a very low tone. "That's the whole point", he said, closing the single-piece nose/hood/fenders of the 2000GT. "It looks relatively stock, but the way it performs is an entire nother story. The engine's had internals built of exotic materials such as titanium, stroked to 3.2 liters, and overall just completely race-trimmed the engine. Hell, the HKS factory JZA70 race team doesn't have an engine this good. The final step for my GT is boring it to 3.4 liters and installing underbody diffusers and such, and with any luck, those modifications - especially the second - should raise my absolute limit to between 475 and 500 kilometers per hour."

"Five-hundred...", Akiyuki said, staring at the car in disbelief, "That's godly speed! Even I'm not crazy enough that fast... What kind of normal person would drive such a beast?"

"Oh, what, kid, like the pointy ears weren't enough to let you know? We're not normal, incase your fluffy little head of hair didn't figure it out. We're here to rule the wangan. Nothing more, nothing less. When your husband isn't an EVOLUTION pilot no more, and the Angels stopped attacking 2 years ago, what else do you think an ex fighter jet pilot pursues? Speed... naturally.", Karie said, explaning and being blatantly obvious in her usual sarcastic fashion.

Karie was right, for the most part - what else was there for a city's savior to do in Tokyo that could possibly be pursuing the fastest Wangan runner in all of history?"

-

In the town of Nikko, the same morning, two figures sat at a diner, being served coffee by a sleepy-eyed waitress. She looked around, not noting any other customers, before strolling back over to behind the countertop, observing the two fellas - and also, looking out the window, noticing a white fastback-style sports car sitting beside a hpped-up black sedan, with "Emperor" written on the side in white text neatly below the rear side window.

"So, what brings me out here?", the figure dressed in white asked, sipping a cup of coffee slowly.

"I apologize for dragging you out here at this time of the morning, but this is a rather pressing matter, Ryousuke-san.", he said, stating it clearly. The man was none other than Kyoichi Sudoh, complete with his pretty badass-looking bandana wrapped around his hair.

"Well, what seems to be the issue, then, Sudoh?", he asked, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"It's that WRC driver, Akiyuki Suzaki. And that Mitsubishi Starion of his. He's absolutely leathal, and out prowling the streets suddenly.", Kyoichi said, narrowing his eyes a bit, and lacing together his fingertips on the table.

"Yes, I know... my brother had a bit of a semi-personal encounter with him on Akagi... but how'd you find out so fast?", Ryousuke asked, taking another sip. "It's not like you're that hot into Project D, nor can word possibly spread that fast."

"...I met him personally.", Kyoichi said, looking a bit downward of Ryousuke, eyes not meeting between the two.

"...so you did. Did you win against him or race against him?", Ryousuke asked, with his ever-information-recieving stare.

"...No. I raced his Starion, and lost. The car's ability is about that of the Trueno's, with one exception; horsepower. And the driver knows how to handle... at least more horsepower than my Evo, although probably not much more."

"...he... defeated you?", Ryousuke said, with a raised eyebrow, not sipping any more. "On your home course? Maybe you are losing your touch."

"Hell no", Kyoichi said, chuckling and eyeing Ryousuke back again. "He just performed a reckless maneuver that even I don't have the lack of sense to attempt, and got lucky. That's all. Then he out-accelerated me on the straightaway."

"Reckless maneuver?", Ryousuke asked, looking more interested than ever, before taking another sip of his coffee. "Go on, Kyoichi, please... tell me everything about his technique and this maneuver you speak of..."