Due to the increasing demand of this story, thanks to LunaTFKWatson, DeathXTheXKidd, and Amateur Experimentalist, I wrote this chapter almost immediately. One week later, we have another chapter! Suppose this is enough to make up for lost time!


Chapter twelve: Momentum on Home Ground

Montréal, Canada: one week later

At Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport, in the French-Canadian province of Québec, the United Airlines flight provided by the FIA C1TM made its landing. In Luna's case, it felt like a sigh of relief. The moment she walked onto the boarding gate and into the airport, she felt the drastic difference in climate compared to the other places she had been to so far. Both the Laguna Seca and Austin were located in basically hot climates, whereas Montréal was further north. For Luna, it felt like she was back in London again, with equal if not similar cool temperatures.

She didn't sleep well, nor did she sleep well for the past few days. In addition to the anger she felt after the racing incident in Austin, Luna felt bad for the mechanics and engineers at Accelerated Racing. The damage done to her GT500 Nissan GT-R meant they had to spend no less than sixty hours repairing the front body. It wasn't that complex, but it meant replacing all the parts. The front wing, the splitter, and headlights included. As well, replacing all the brakes would incur extra time, and they all had to be done in Austin.

Fortunately, there were two weeks before the next round of Class One North America after Austin, which allowed sufficient time for the team to repair the car. The GT-R would be ready by the coming Thursday.

The arrangement was that the team would have the cars transported to Montréal in a matter of days, after repairs were done. For now, Luna would have to check in at her assigned hotel, and then she would be free for the time being. A team meeting was scheduled the following day, with debrief and such.

She picked up her bag and took out her British passport to prepare for immigration. Baggage would have to wait until she had gotten past the border officials.

After Luna had a visa stamped on one of her passport pages, she proceeded to meet up with her teammate Oliver, who had gathered at the baggage claim. After speaking briefly with her teammate, Luna went over to look for her baggage. It didn't take long before she spotted her familiar bag on the dispenser.

By the time she picked her bag up, the others were still looking for their bags. So she had a moment to talk a little more with Oliver.

"So that was a 100 hour job for our team," she said. "They're still in Austin, right? When will they come?"

"They probably won't be here until tomorrow. It's worth mentioning that it will be a 24 hour trip for them to transport the cars to the circuit here," Oliver replied. "I'm not surprised, though, since Austin is pretty much across the continent. Plus, pretty much half the team has to stay behind, so it might take a little longer."

They kept walking.

"Some of our engineers came to Montréal already, and they're – ah – over there."

Oliver went to pick up his baggage too and afterwards the teammates were on their way. Their principal hadn't boarded the flight with them, as he had to oversee the rebuilding and transporting of the cars. For now, Luna and Oliver had some downtime.

That went without saying they had to rendezvous with the rest of their team first, who were waiting for them.


Neither Maria nor Leon had an appetite, but they were fine with that. Maria was still in tears after the monster of a steak she had a week ago, and Leon also had reason for complaint. As a result, they skipped breakfast and lunch and went through immigration pretty quickly. Canadian passports in Canada obviously required no visas, so all they had to do was do the immigration themselves via self-serve kiosks.

After handing over their declaration card to the border officials, Maria and Leon met up with Michael, and they then walked forward together.

"We'll meet at the greeting area," Michael instructed. "Dr. Hilbert and half of the team are still in Austin to repair and prepare transporting the cars, whereas the other half is here in Montréal as well. At this point, they'll probably be at the circuit already."

"What would they be doing?" Maria asked.

"Oh, you could say they're making preparations for our team as well," Michael replied. "Dr. Hilbert probably is giving instructions to them as we speak. The cars will be here in three days, I think."

"Feels good to be home in Canada, though," Leon replied, "even if we are on the other side of the country."

"Aw, Leon…" Maria added playfully, pinching her cousin's cheek, "are you homesick already? We've only gone through two races and still have a whole season to go through!"

Leon puffed his cheeks in response. "I'm not homesick! It's just that it's been… five months since we left Vancouver!" He had to brush her hand off quickly, as if she was an irritant.

"That's being homesick." Maria grinned, as if trying to be smart.

"That's not the same as coming back to Canada, though!" Leon shot back.

Michael smiled as they went out to the greeting area and locate the FIA officials who were there to collect them. Hotels would be waiting for them and Michael promised there would be downtime after checking in. However, he couldn't promise the media wouldn't bother them.

"Well, you'll be happy at who called in to me this morning," he said. "They had to go through a confusing number of calls, but they reach me at last."

The cousins wore confused expressions. Who was Michael talking about, exactly? However, while they were walking through, the cousins were surprised at what, or who, they saw. Familiar faces looking at them near the crowd with smiles. The only thing they could do was smile back.

"Mommy!" Maria and Leon cried.

Indeed, their respective parents were among the closest to the doors of the greeting area. Delighted, Maria rushed around the barrier to give her parents a tight hug, whilst dropping her bags. Leon, too, went to embrace his parents.

"Wow! Since when did you come to Montréal?" Leon said.

"Right after that race in Austin," his dad answered. "We were cheering you on!"

"Yeah," Leon's mom added. "When we heard Montréal was going to be the only Canadian round of the championship, we just had to stop by!"


Aurora and Shade Nighsworn had not eaten anything for breakfast giving the massive dinner they had a week ago. Twenty ounces of meat for each of them had taken its toll on their stomachs, and the subsequent meals that followed in Austin consisted of nothing more than salads.

They skipped breakfast but did eat on the airplane, and after immigration they still opted not to eat anything. It wasn't before long before they met up with their team, who in turn were directed by FIA officials to taxis.

As a show of team spirit, Aurora was wearing a white Toshiba cap, and Shade wore a black Monster Energy cap, with the trademark green 'M' emblazoned in front. They rode on the same taxi, and at the same time escorted by security guards.

While on the highway, Aurora and Shade looked at their new surroundings. Sure, the climate here was much cooler than that of where they had been to so far, and reminded them more of Florence. As such, it was more welcoming for them here too.

"Still feeling that podium nostalgia?" she asked her brother. There were camera crews and media trying to get a close-up on them as they left the airport, but officials were there to help clear a way for the Italians.

"You bet, but I could only hope for another win," he replied. "You know, I bet I'll make another podium here. I can see it."

Aurora laughed. "I bet I'll take the win! We'll just have to employ the usual strategy and we'll be set."

Their taxi pulled in front of the relatively close Crowne Plaza hotel. If there was one place racing stars could stay in, it would be here. While Shade and Aurora were impressed, they also knew what to expect from Crowne Plaza as well.

"Well, I can't believe we're staying here again," Aurora remarked.

"But that was a few years ago," Shade replied. "Plus, this is Montréal! Things might be different!"

What Shade and Aurora were referring to was the Crowne Plaza hotel in Milan, near the Italian motor racing circuit in Monza. At the times when they followed their father to watch him run development tests with new Lotus Formula One machines, they naturally stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Milan. They did like to play around in the hotel room more than watching the Formula One tests, at the time.

Hard to believe that the C1TM would eventually head to Monza too, but that was a different story.

After checking into the hotel and dropping off their bags in their room, Shade and Aurora went out to meet the FIA official in the lobby.

"Either your team will have arranged transport to get to the circuit or the FIA will have provided some for you, but chances are that it's the former," the official. "Check it over with your team whenever you can."


Percy O'Carroll had been busy with his time after he had finished with immigration and checking into his hotel. For a start, his team had him and Carina meet up at the circuit so as they could learn the track a little before the principal could let them loose.

That being said, their Hondas had only just arrived in Montréal on the same day. Given the time it took to repair Percy's car there was some delay, but the cars were due to arrive the following morning.

Yet, on the taxi ride there courtesy of Honda Canada Inc., Carina could tell her teammate was discouraged for some reason. He was reading messages off his phone, and after a moment silently hid his phone in his pocket.

"Something the matter, buddy?" Carina asked.

"Nothing," he replied. "Just a little breakup is all."

Carina's black waist-length hair became quite messy while she was sitting, but she was fine with that. Dressed in a tank top as opposed to Percy's bright orange-and-red crewneck shirt, Carina looked outside the window to see the city landscape. The Acura MDX that was shuttling them passed by a scenic canal to the heart of Montréal – otherwise called the centre-ville. However, before they could get close to the centre-ville, the car veered off in the direction of…

"The Saint Lawrence River, is that what it's called?" Carina asked.

But Percy was unresponsive at first, but quickly reacted with a turn of his head. "Hmm? Oh, that? Yeah, that's the Saint Lawrence. It runs all the way from the Atlantic Ocean. Plus, the racing circuit where we'll be racing on is actually built on an island on the river."

"Wouldn't have thought you knew so much, buddy!" Carina commented, adding a bump to Percy's arm. "So you were paying attention!"

"Of course I was," Percy shot back, a bit annoyed, and continued to look at his phone once in a while. Carina, on the other hand, looked outside to see the Victoria and Concordia bridges come into sight. It was a sunny day, so it made the landscape look no less illustrious.

Eventually, the car began its trip on the Concordia Bridge (otherwise known as Pont de la Concorde). The two Honda drivers looked outside to see the island of Île Notre Dame where, evidently, most of the racing circuit was visible. The island stretched from one direction to the other, with plenty of track in sight.

"That looks fun…" Carina said. "It's a pretty track."

"You can owe that to the river, I bet," Percy added quietly.

Soon enough, the Acura was past the security gate and stopped near the garages of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. FIA officials and circuit marshals were already walking around the track making preparations for the upcoming race, but that wasn't Percy or Carina's business. Instead, they followed their way in to meet their team.

"It would help to learn the track too, I bet," Percy said.

"Did you break up with your girlfriend, buddy?" Carina suddenly said.

"That's none of your business, Beverly," Percy shot back.

That did it. Carina nearly slapped Percy in the face but he pulled back a little, and in time for their engineers to pull them into the building to begin briefing. However, Carina had to be restrained, since she was in a mood.

Once they were in the garage, they beheld the welcome sight of the Pepsi Honda NSX-GT, all completely repaired and ready to race, and its sister car the IKEA Honda NSX-GT. Both cars were in good condition and fresh from repairs and cleaning.

"Next time, don't crash the car," Carina joked.

Percy rolled his eyes.


There was a Tim Hortons coffee shop beside the hotel where Maria Lougheed and Leon Pinetree were staying at – that is, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Given just how long it had been since they last saw their parents, Maria and Leon looked pretty homesick.

So it came down to Maria's uncle (that is, Leon's dad) who bought coffee for everyone.

"We've been watching your races from beginning to end," he remarked to Leon as he set down the tray of coffees. "Your mom insisted she take the weekends off so she could watch the races start to finish."

"Come on, now, you've been watching the free practice and qualifying sessions too, never mind the races!" she complained.

To make himself look more casual, Leon wore a pair of jeans and, incidentally, a Hudson's Bay shirt. It went without saying that this shirt was his own and not supplied by the sponsor.

Meanwhile, Maria sipped her coffee quietly. She forgot to ask her uncle for milk instead of cream in her coffee, but she supposed she could live with it for now. As for a clothing choice for the journey she wore a black-and-silver dress.

"Well, we were disappointed with how the race turned out," her mom admitted. "You were in 8th place for a long time and then you suddenly dropped down back to 14th again."

"Yeah, you can owe it to that mistake I made at the final corner," Maria admitted. "Even the accident with the leaders – you saw it right? – meant I finished 12th."

Her dad was sympathetic. "Hey, you're in back in the country, and the four of us bought tickets just to see the two of you race. Come on, I know you'll do us proud!"

And then Maria's mom chipped in. "Some would even say you two have a home advantage! Come on, you'll get that podium! We've got your back! To think it was only five months ago when that director gave you your contract, and look where you're at now!"

Maria grinned. "I can't promise that podium, but I'll make it worthwhile that you and dad came here!" she said. "Hey, when the race is over, I can take you to check out the garage! Maybe then you'll get your tickets' worth for coming here! Then we can check out the centre-ville!"

Her parents looked at each other briefly, with smiles.

"That sounds like a great idea," Maria's dad said. "But first, you have a race to finish."

Maria thought back to Michael's words. The entire team wasn't due to gather until the cars had arrived from Austin, but it wouldn't be long before she and Leon would be in the seats of their racing machines.


Sneak preview of the next chapter: Round 3 of the FIA Class One Touring Masters/Race 3 of Class One North America!