OK Number 29 - Denouement


"And Lelouch is going- yes, he's peeling off into the pit lane, he was a couple of tenths down on his personal best through the second sector. A shame, his first sector was almost challenging Kallens, but he just lost so much momentum out of Bico de Pato, the slow right hand hairpin, getting up with some power oversteer just where the puddles are. These are treacherously wet conditions indeed, as we approach the ten minute window, here at qualifying for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix. That's ten minutes to go until we see who will line up on pole, and right now it is Kallen in provisional first place, but that could very much change, as the wet conditions could prove to favour a smoother approach. We shall see. This is Diethard Reid, alongside me is good friend Jeremiah Gottwald, and- oh, yes, here's Suzaku now, entering the last turn now, he's about to start a flying lap."

Indeed he was, as the Japanese prodigy flew across the starting line, kicking up pools of mist and water in his rearward wake as he shot down into the Senna esses. He broke quite early, and tipped the car in with a deliberate motion of the wheel, with a swift raise of the right hand, held firmly in position once established. In a fashion most unlike the man the corner was named after, Suzaku approached it with his own conservative caution, braking in a straight line and gliding down through the faux-chicane in a swooping motion, holding his car in firm rectitude as he progressed down the gears, a deliberate bang, pause, bang, pause, bang, measured and practised.

With such painstaking measures taken to preserve his momentum, Suzaku was able to exit the corner with the throttle fully open, blasting forward without a hint of a shake or wobble that would compromise his acceleration. It was as if a computer was driving, such was the accuracy, hones down to millimeters.

"Good run through there." Jeremiah commented plainly, focused on Suzaku's performance.

All was looking good, however what the commentators could not see until it was too late was a slow car, likely returning to the pits, that was trundling on the racing line. As the camera panned back, they saw it just as Suzaku was forced to dive messily to the inside, forcing him into a shallow line through the Descida de Lago, greatly harming his exit.

"I think that may have been Kewell." Diethard blurted, as he tried to get a good glimpse. "In any case, that will have hurt Suzaku's lap immensely, but we'll see as he approaches the sector split and- ach, it's two tenths down."

"He may abandon the lap and try to get another one in, but we'll see… he's still going at full tilt, I think he wants to finish this one and see what he can do."

Indeed, it appeared as if he was going faster than ever, as he swung his car into into Ferradura and swinging it like a bullroarer, with an impossibly swift entry and impossibly clean exit. However, his party trick was yet to come.

As he entered the last sector, his individualised sector time was level with his previous lap, which meant he was still two tenths down. The third sector was short, consisting of a single left hander, and an uphill climb to the finish line.

Suzaku was almost off the track as he launched himself onto the kerb, making the corner as wide and as open as possible before launching the car towards the corner, positively shooting the car into the apex without a flinch. It was black magic, as he carried the entire force of the high speed pivot in his neck. It was impressive, yet understated, hugely fast and yet almost effortless. For about half a second, it appeared as if Suzaku, through sheer force of concentration, broke physics.

"Woah!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "Jesus, I got whiplash just looking at that."

Diethard was equally enthusiastic, as he exclaimed "Even with the other car holding him up, it could be a third or fourth for Suzaku as he runs up to the line, although-"

"-he did in fairness nail the last corner and got a smooth run-"

"Holy hell, that's second place for Suzaku Kururugi!" Diethard yelled, interrupting Jeremiah, as he jumped about the commentary box. "In the Rosenberg, the third fastest car, he goes second out of all drivers! Going from two tenths down to three up, with that last sector. You're spot on, he nailed that last sector beautifully. If he can match his personal best from Sector One and repeat that Sector Three, he may well challenge for Pole here today!"

The pair laughed, as Suzaku wound the speed down on approach to the first corner, cooling the car as he navigated the track on his way back to the pits. After a moment of following the Rosenberg, the broadcast feed switched to a shot of Kallen, sat in her car looking at the same broadcast, which created an amusing visual loop. Her face, mirrored to infinity in the increasingly small replications of the broadcast on the screen next to her, wore a frown as she examined the times, and in particular the most recent time of Suzaku's, which had come within two tenths of her best from earlier. Jeremiah, after appreciating the funny image, began to comment on the scene.

"And there on your screens now ladies and gentlemen is the woman he would be taking that Pole off, the normally sanguine Kallen Kozuki, who looks on at her screen inquisitively. She has already set a lap time of one minute and eighteen point two seconds, which was a blistering lap given her cars nature and I don't see how she could improve on it- the car was twitching and shaking all the way round the lap, I wouldn't dare push it any harder than that, but she may decide to have another go at it depending on what Suzaku does."

She kept staring, until the camera switched away from her to examine the other cars in circulation, which Jeremiah again spoke on.

"Nu also just completed a lap by the way, jumping from tenth to sixth, but- oh, and a Rebellion has just left the pit lane, it's- it's car number eleven, it's Kallen Kozuki."

Kallen had indeed left the pits, and the mood palpably changed. Even about that part of the pit lane that was visible, there was a sudden anticipation as Kallen returned to the qualifying field. Everyone took a moment to pause and examine the screen, in light of the undoubtable and indisputable expectation she created whenever she was about to do a fast lap. However, would she be able to deliver?

Diethard didn't think so, noting "She must feel like she still has time left to find in the lap, but… I just don't see it. Maybe in the last turn, given that Suzaku was so good through it, but other than that, I don't know if she left that much on the table. The car was just so fidgety, which could be a liability in these wet conditions."

"We will see, as she brings the car up to speed, building up the temperature in the tyres and in the brakes on her exit lap as she prepares for her second flying lap of this session. Bradley is just ahead on a flying lap, and crosses the line to move from ninth to eighth, as Kallen exits the last corner. Now she'll want to build up speed to begin her fast lap. Let's see what she can do."

With Jeremiah's introduction complete, Kallen rushed across the line to start her lap. With a much higher rake than Suzaku's, the quantities of water thrown up behind her were greater by an order of magnitude, however this did not impede her as she hurled the car into the first corner, forging a path deep into it before pitching the cars weight on its front wheels and using the lateral movement to slow it, turning and braking at the same time. She skated onto the inside kerb before bouncing back off, jerking this way and that for hints of traction to slide the car through the complex. She was on the throttle much earlier than Suzaku, but her exit was much less clean as she hopped about the tarmac, scrappily fighting the steering wheel to manage the overactive rear, a consequence of her fast entry to the corner.

As unstable as it was, it was still fast, and as she flung the mercurial, vicious Guren Type-2/F19-Y into the wet beyond. She fired the car into the Descida with reckless abandon, wrenching the wheel to full lock with barely a hint of lift or braking. As she forced the car to turn through the open left hander far beyond its remit and capability, the rear tyres suddenly lost traction as they grew overwhelmed by the force put into them, and she was forced into a moment of drift, correcting with aggressive countersteer, however she pulled the car back from the brink, and exited the corner just within the track limits.

"Look at that!" Jeremiah laughed. "Absolutely pristine reflexes. She started correcting with the wheel before I could even see the car going sideways."

"It was slick, for sure, but was it quick? We'll see now as we approach the first sector split, we'll see a comparison to her first lap…"

Both commentators looked intently at the sector split displays, keeping an intense watch before it appeared suddenly as she crossed the split line. They both read its pronouncement.

Sector Best – (Minus .143 seconds)

"What?" Jeremiah barked, shocked. "She found another tenth and a half! That's insane!"

Chuckling, Diethard shrugged his shoulders and exasperatedly marvelled "Here we go again!"

It appeared that the idea that Kallen was approaching a limit to the lap time she could pump out was poorly founded, as she rocketed into the middle sector. The car was the furthest thing from planted as one could conceive, but Kallen made the best of it, rotating the car using its inherent volatile behaviour. She skidded her way towards the third sector at maximum attack, wringing every square inch of traction for all the grip it was worth to leap and jump and crawl forwards that little bit faster. In spite of her previous lap being so fast, somehow, Kallen was able to go faster.

"Oh my god, up two tenths!"

But she was not finished. Mirroring Suzaku's line, Kallen traded his smoothness for a more aggressive turn in, resulting in a faster entry but a slower exit. Even so, and even with a kick of oversteer on the exit kerb, it was still faster than her previous attempt at the corner, and as she rocketed up the Subida Dos Boxes, Diethard knew this would be a special time.

However, even as he read it, it still managed to surprise him.

"Goodness me, found three tenths up on her previous best in the last sector! She found another seven tenths of a second on that lap, absolutely beggars belief."

Jeremiah, shaking his head, could only agree. "That's a seventeen five on a wet track, goodness me. If I were a driver that would just… devastate my confidence. I'd be intimidated even looking at that lap, that's insanity. The morale on the pit lane across all the teams that aren't called 'Rebellion' will have just taken a big blow, as she's now nine tenths ahead of the next fastest car of Kururugi. That, around a track this short, is…"

"Lunacy, lunacy is what it is."


"And now, as the cars line up on the grid for the parade lap, we are but minutes from the start of the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the atmosphere is reaching a fever pitch. The rolling hills of Socorro are alive with the sound of airhorns, shouting, and of course, some of the most powerful engines ever built for cars. History is very much in the making, as within the next two hours, we will have a new hero, adding their name to the illustrious roster of Champions for the first time. Will it be the wily Franc, Lelouch Lamperouge? He hasn't the speed of his competitors, but with guile and strategy, and a good bit of pluck, he's been able to take the fight to the big figures of modern motor racing, stealing results and keeping it on the black stuff when he needed to. In spite of his poor qualifying, it would be a mistake to count him out, as he sits seven and a half points behind Suzaku and two ahead of Kallen."

"Or, will the honours go to the persistent Suzaku Kururugi, absolutely tireless in his ambition and industry? He may appear to be a bit off the pace given the deficit in qualifying, but leaks have revealed that the team believed that pole position to be impossible in any case, and so compromised the setup of the car fully towards race trim, which means that they may have the best race pace of anyone on track today. Time will tell. Needless to say, his consistency and effort have been second to none, and if he can hang onto his lead, cannily built up in the early season, he will make a deserving Champion."

"Or, will it be Kallen Kozuki, the passionate, audacious Tokyo native, who took a commanding Pole Position? While she has struggled to build consistency, and her race pace and tyre management has yet to match her qualifying pace, few can fault her natural talent. However, carrying the win today will require character, care, and a cool head, which she has not had throughout the entirety of this season. Needless to say, all her skills will be tested if she wants to finish where she starts. However, if she can pull through, it would represent another magnificent drive in her portfolio of 2018, and cement her worthiness as champion."

"Nine and a half points is the gap going into the Grand Prix between the two Japanese challengers. If Kallen wins the race, and Suzaku finishes lower than second, she is the Champion of the World. If she finishes second, Suzaku needs only finish in fifth place to clinch the title. If Kallen just about keeps it on the podium in third, she wins if Suzaku gets eighth or lower. A fourth place from Kallen would require Suzaku finishing in ninth for her to win, and the only way Kallen can win from fifth is if Suzaku fails to score points. There will be no prizes for Kallen if she cannot stay above sixth."

"Meanwhile, Lelouch would need to overtake both of his title rivals and build a gap to both of them to win the title, which is a far longer shot given that he is several positions behind them on the grid. However, given that he is ahead of his teammate Kallen on points, if he can finish ahead of her on track, regardless of position, second in the championship is guaranteed for him."

"As to the conditions, it is still wet, and quite so; every driver will be starting on the blue full wet tyre, and, if forecasting is to be believed, it will stay wet for the duration of the race. This will require a gentle touch around the four point three kilometre circuit, nestled within the suburbs of Sao Paulo. Who will master it? Don't go anywhere, as in moments we will find out, as the 2018 season crescendos here."

"It was a season of twists of fortune, with success and luck swapping hands at the blink of an eye. Unpredictable at every turn, the new stars of the show rose to prominence, and as they took up the leading role with an earnest vigour, they showed they had just as much talent and bravery as their predecessors. It dealt in detail, and drama; a two hundred mile an hour soap opera. Success for those who never expected it, frustration for those who expected it to be handed to them. Several characters grew familiar, forming lifelong bonds and earning one anothers respect, while other relationships soured under the scrutiny of the arena. Hostility arose between friends, between rivals, as the heat of competition led to them boiling over, both on track and off it."

"However, as tensions rose on the character front, the tensions of the plot rose in tandem. New stars, shining ever so bright, fight for their place in the history books, to show themselves worthy of immortality. Such different approaches, such different characters and styles and ideologies and walks of life, all to be separated by just ten points at the close of business. Such was the drama of 2018."

"The leading men and women of yesteryear are gone; there is no champion on this grid. No guiding figure, no dominant antagonist to be topple, like a long reigning despot of old. Who will lead this sport into a new era, what with the previous designators of such having moved onto greener pastures? Who will take the bull by the horns and show themselves to be the new standard bearer? One more episode. One more fight. One more race."

"Lights out, and away we go."


If I can finish this season before my break ends, I will yeet myself into space. I've stalled to give this grand finale all the gravitas it's worth, but we may finally have to get to the goddamned Brazilian Grand Prix. We're almost home; can Kallen win? Find out soon; and please review the story.

~Eth0