INITIAL D: DRIFT KINGS

Author's Note: Domo arigato, readers! Just to make a note: all the tracks layouts are based on the ones from Special Stage, so any corners I mention should occur the same way in the game. Just a random note, there. And don't flame me if I'm not exactly right, okay. I haven't played Special Stage for several months...since my PS2 passed on...

ACT 10:

Four cars sat parked along the gaurdrail of the Akagi mountain downhill. As every car running downhill rounded the corner, the four owners watched, evaluating the drivers.

Then as they watched, a new car appeared. A black, angular, aggressively shaped car with a long, wide, radiant silver stripe down the rear fenders and along the doors and a simple, subtle bodykit.

Drew, seated in his Celica, nodded at his companions, than shifted up and pulled out to follow the black silhouette. He pulled up close to the other car's tail lights. In the glare of his head lights, the "TOYOTA" stencil on the trunk showed clearly.

That, Drew thought, Is a VERY nice AE92.

Suddenly, the other car flashed its warning lights once and pulled off to the side. Drew followed, stopping his car, but leaving the key in the ignition and the engine idling. He opened the door and stepped out, walking over to the other car.

He rapped on the driver's window, and stepped back as it rolled down.

"Hey, man," Drew said, "This thing handles pretty well for an FF."

The dark-haired man in the low bucket seat smiled at him, "Thanks."

"You part of any team?"

The man laughed, "No, I guess not. Why?"

"We're forming a new team and looking for one more person."

"That so? And I'm guessing you want me in?"

"More or less, yeah."

He grinned devilishly at Drew, "I'll tell you what, I'll join your team if one of you can beat me here downhill. And you only get one try, so choose well who you want to drive."

"Deal. Gimme a minute to pick a challenger."

He nodded and Drew moved off to where his friends were parked.

Johny frowned at him, "So, what's up?"

"He'll join the team if one of us can beat him. But only one of us can try and that's it."

"Okay, so who?"

Grant looked around at the cars, "Well, I'm better uphill, downhill my Supra's weight'll kill me. Johny's Corolla is light and powerful, but he's our uphill specialist. I mean, no offense, Johny, but downhill just isn't your thing."

Johny shrugged and Grant continued, "Anyway, that brings it down to you and Andrew..."

Andrew raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, "Hey, don't look at me. My Touge ability is still very much in development."

Drew nodded, "Alright, then. I guess I'll do it."

He turned and walked back to the Trueno, "Okay, I'm gonna run against you, my buddies are gonna head to the base. Cool?"

"Cool. Let's go."

Drew nodded and walked back to his Celica, buckling the quick-release latch of his racing harness as he settled into the seat. He pulled out into the street following the AE92 and headed toward the summit, with Andrew trailing to count them off. Momentarlily, the three cars reached the top, with Andrew's S14 K's AERO parked along the shoulder and Drew and the AE92 lined up next to each other.

Andrew walked out into the road and raised and arm.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"GO!!!" Andrew dropped his arm and fell into a crouch as the two cars shot off the line, a the AE92's lighter weight giving it a slight early lead. Drew smiled and pressed a little harder on the gas as he felt the kick of the small turbine spinning up. His slightly more powerful engine allowed him to close to within a few meters of the AE92 as they gunned it down the first long straightaway.

As they approached the first corner, a gentle right leading into a hard left, the Trueno slowed and gripped the inside, it's responsive FF drivetrain easily taking the sharp cornering. Drew, however, feinted right with the first corner, then spun the steering wheel hard to the left; the sudden weight shift of the car sliding it sideways through the corner.

Inside the Trueno, Kensuke Sakatachi watched the Celica in his rear-view mirror.

This guy's not bad...this could be pretty fun...he grinned, Okay, let's go!

He floored the accelerator and upshifted; the backfire from the AE92's exhuast tip echoing above the sound of the engines. He smiled as the Celica gained steadily on him down the next straight.

He may be good, but he obviously doesn't know Akagi.

Kensuke rapidly twisted the wheel to the right with his right hand as he pulled the e-brake handle with his left, swinging out the rear end of the Trueno. He stepped back on the gas as he exited the corner, his front tires pulling the car straight; leveling him out from the drift.

Back in his Celica, Drew gaped, It's not often you find someone who has mastered FF drifting. I have to win this. We need this guy.

The AE92's manuever through the sudden right corner had gained it a good 15-20 meters on the Celica, and as the two drifted through a section of quick hairpins, its lead only increased.

He's got that thing tuned for Akagi, while my Celica's set up for something like Akina or Myogi. This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

Drew grimaced as the next corner forced him to downshift and brake hard. He floored the accelerator again coming out of the corner in an attempt to regain some ground on the other Toyota, whose lead was now around 35 meters. He felt a lurch as his cheap turbo caught up with the Celica and engaged, launching him forward an extra few meters, then slowly increasing his velocity.

Rounding the next corner, he cursed as the AE92 increased its lead even more, driving quickly down a straight and sliding into the next corner.

In his Trueno, Kensuke smiled and watched the Celica fall slowly farther behind.

I hoped you'd be able to keep up a little longer than this. Well, I think this should end soon.

As he entered the next corner, he belatedly noticed a spray of rocks across the side of the road, below a deep scrape in the rock wall.

Someone must have run into it! Why didn't anyone set up flares or anything?

He mashed on the brake and pulled hard on the e-brake lever, locking the wheels and putting his car into a long skid. His engine whined and revved up past the redline until he slapped the shift knob down into 1st.

Drew, several dozen meters behind, began braking when the saw the Trueno's headlights illuminate the rock slide. He grinned as the AE92's brake lights lit up and smoke began to cloud behind the rear tires.

Now's my chance!

Drew gunned his engine and slipped through the gap between the Trueno and the gaurdrail.

Kensuke swore under his breath as the Celica slipped past him and quickly passed the reach of his headlights.

It is going to be insanely tough to catch up now. I've only got the hairpins left.

In the Celica, Drew tapped the brake, then stepped hard on it, swinging the rear end of his car out to block most of the opposite lane.

If I can just keep up enough velocity to drift, I can block the road and keep him behind me.

He pressed harder on the gas to keep his speed up, then slid the front of his foot over to the brake, load shifting and sliding the car around the second hairpin.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the mountain, Grant and Johny stood in the glare of the Corolla's lights.

Grant watched the road as the pair of headlights raced around the upper hairpins, "Is that them already?"

"I wouldn't think so, but then again, I've found people watching have a different perception of time than those who are actually driving."

"Does that apply to stopwatches, too?"

Johny glanced down, the snapped his head back up, "How does Drew shave that much off his time in one night?"

"That's what racing someone good does to you."

"Hey, here they come!"

The painfully loud sound of screeching tires and a cloud of smoke accompanied the two cars around the final corner before the finish.

Johny pointed up the road, "Drew's in the lead!!!"

"Alright! GO!"

As the Celica slid past the finish line, Drew thrust his arm out of the open window in triumph, then stopped the car by the side of the road. Grant and Johny ran over to where the Celica had parked as Andrew's S14 rounded the final corner behind them.

Drew strode over to the Trueno as Kensuke stepped out.

Kensuke smiled, "Well, I guess you got me. Nicely done.," he said, extending a hand to Drew, who shook it.

"Yeah, but you didn't make it easy on me. You have one great Toyota there."

"Thanks. It's also got something a little different. Come here and see for yourself."

Kensuke reached under the gauge cluster and flipped the hood catch. He nodded for Drew to open the hood. He did, and was amazed by what he saw. He looked back up at the other man.

"Can you even do that?"

"You just almost lost to it, didn't you?"

Drew returned his attention to the engine, which at first appeared to be a typical 4AGZE. The valve covers, however, had been painted silver, as well as the, "Twin Cam," and "Supercharger," logos on them, except for the words, "Twin," and "Charger" which were bright red. A closer look at the engine revealed that, buried beneath the hoses and valves, was both the factory supercharger and a small turbo.

"A twincharger. Clever."

"Isn't it?" Kensuke smiled, "It works well, too. But about this team, do we have a name?"

Drew rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Um...not yet."

"Uh-huh. Do we have a home?"

"That, yes. We run on Akina."

"Alright, Akina it is. I'll be there at 10o'clock tomorrow. And could I suggest that you maybe think of a name for us."

"Yeah...I'll work on that."

And with that, Kensuke waved to the group, and left, dissappearing into the night.

"Hey, Drew," Andrew said, "We gotta stop by my shop."

"Huh? Why?"

"My boss called me earlier and told me that something I've been waiting for just came in. I need to drop off my car so it can get installed."

"Something, eh? What kind of a something?"

"You'll see."

A half-hour later, the four cars pulled into the lot at the shop. Three parked there, and Andrew pulled his S14 around to the back and tapped his horn once. A light came on inside and the door slid upwards. Andrew edged forward into the garage and shut off the car as his companions rounded the corner of the garage. Andrew stepped out of the car and turned to the young woman who stood by the door into the main shop.

"Konban-wa, Arisa-chan."

"Konban-wa, Fosuta-san. Come on, I've got it right over here."

Andrew waved for his friends to follow, "Okay, guys, I brought an extra stash of money with me when we came here, and I've been adding to it slowly since we got here. Well, to make a long story short, a week ago, I had finally saved up enough for what I was saving for."

The three men followed him to where Arisa stood beside a large, square, tarp covered object. Andrew nodded to her and she pulled the tarp off. Grant, Drew, and Johny collectively gasped. Grant was the first to recover from the shock.

"Where'd that come from and how much did it cost?"

Andrew patted the smooth, black valve covers, "I would think you know where it came from, and as for how much...it was around 150,000 yen."

Wow," Drew said, "So, will you sell the SR20?"

"You kidding?" Andrew laughed, "In two days I'll have an RB26 under the hood, of course I'm selling the SR20."

Arisa raised a hand, "And I can make sure you get quite a bit for it."

Andrew nodded, "Thanks a lot, Arisa-chan. So, I can just leave the car here?"

She nodded, "I'll get it prepped tonight and we can start putting the RB26 in tomorrow."

"Thanks. I'll be back tomorrow."

The four men walked out of the garage and back to their cars. Johny shook his head, "I still can't believe what I saw. Andrew, you are seriously putting a GT-R's RB26DETT in your K's AERO?"

"Yep. Isn't it great?"

Drew set an arm around Andrew's shoulder, "You know this means you're gonna have to get very good, very fast."

"Well, we're running Akina every night for the next several days, right?"

THE NEXT NIGHT:

"So, Kensuke-san, what's your impression of Akina?"

Kensuke leaned back against the door of his Trueno, "Well, it's certainly different from Akagi. Actually, it's a bit higher speed. Also, I think that if someone had the nerve to try, you might be able to do something with the gutters down in those five hairpins toward the base."

Drew smiled, "You're right. Someone has."

"Really? This I have to see. Who is it?"

"The phantom eight-six."

Kensuke eyes brightened, "Ah, so this the eight-six I keep hearing about. I was there for the race with Todo. He is truly amazing. If anyone could try it, I can see how it would be him."

Drew looked at his watch, "Well, he comes through here in about an hour. Tell you what, when he comes, let's tail him," Drew said, the beginning of a plan formulating in his mind.

"What, you think we can keep up?"

"I know we can't. At least, not for long. But let's make a little wager."

"Wager?"

"Yep. 500 yen for every corner you can still see his tail-lights."

"Are you serious, Amerika-jin?"

"Yes."

"So what's in it for you?"

"The satisfaction," Drew said, "Of seeing Takumi-kun claim another victim."

"Sounds like the odds are in my favor then, since I have nothing to lose. I like that. Okay, I'll take you up on your little wager.

And an hour later, the two cars sat idling alongside the road. Suddenly, a set of headlights appeared around the bend uphill.

Okay, here he comes, Drew thought. Then, the car resolved itself into- What!? It's that Impreza again! Wait, that's...that's Takumi driving!

"GO!" Drew said, and waved his hand out toward the road, gunning his engine and pulling out behind the Impreza, with Kensuke a scant few meters ahead. Drew saw Takumi round the first corner, drifting out wide.

Well, first corner. Here we go! Takumi, don't let me down. I don't have much money.

END

Wow, that was long! Actually, I think that was my longest chapter yet. And I did finally put Arisa in! And I'm very sorry if I killed your character, Akamatsu-sama. Anyway, Thanks a bunch for reading! The next chapter may be a while coming, I'll warn you. But please bear with me. Again, thanks a lot, read and review, and no flames, please.