Huge thanks to ARMV7 for giving me the story to write!
As a side note, most of the chapters will remain the same, specifically the first few, though I do intend to expand on other characters as well, such as Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, and others!
This chapter is mostly AU building, pairings will be expanded in the following order, Freezerburn, Ladybug, then ArKos, NoRen, etc.
I don't own Forza Horizon 2, or RWBY, and all cars mentioned in this story are registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Horacio Pagani; please don't sue me.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1. Showcase.
The Vytal countryside; an area divided up by canyons, valleys, hills, and mountains. A place known for the expansive Mantle Valley, The Sanctum Mountain Range, and the twisting roads of The Red Rock Cliffs. Now you'd think that a place like this would be the perfect summer getaway, unless you like the roar of engines, loud parties, and thunderous racing; you'd be wrong.
"It's another bright and sunny day here in beautiful Vytal countryside, I'm Sun your radio host here on 106.9 FM, and today I have with me a very special guest, COO of the Vytal Racing Festival; Ozpin himself."
"Good to be here Mr. Wukong,"
"So what's in store for this year's festival? "
"Well, Vytal 2014 is going to be the biggest yet, with some major funding from Schnee Aerodynamics; I'm proud to introduce this year's newest twist; t-"
The sound in the cabin was shifted from radio chatter, to the smooth roar of a naturally aspirated 6.3 liter V12 engine, belonging to none other than the famous prancing black horse. A bight yellow Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. The Italian monster veered down a countryside road, at the helm; was a girl with a long flowing mane of golden hair, wearing a yellow midriff bearing tank-top and khaki short-shorts, in the recessed seat next to her was a younger girl with short black hair, fading to crimson at the edges. Wearing a black and red v-neck and black skinny jeans. The blonde focused her aviator-clad eyes on the road and gave a devilish smile, slamming her booted foot down on the lightweight gas pedal; the F12 roared to life, the digital needle of the speedometer quickly rocketed to numbers past 260 kilometers an hour.
The crimsonette girl was lurched back in her bolstered seat, her expression saying that she was clearly not fond of the blonde's driving.
"Yang! What're you doing!?" She shouted, her voice being drowned out by 730 horsepower of pure shameless power.
"This'll get us to the café faster, just chill out Ruby!" The blonde one shouted back.
The young racers where heading to a local lakeside café a few miles from the Vytal Racing Festival or VRF for short. The festival was held each year during the hot summer months in Vale, it focused on a series of events to which 250 drivers would enter. The festival used a colored wristband system for divers to make their way up the leader-boards.
Little did the contestants know, this year's festival had an upscale twist.
As the F12 flew down the faded asphalt, Yang began to mull over what this year had in store. 2014 would be Yang's third consecutive year going to the festival, her fist time was at the young age of seventeen. The blonde had come a long way since her first race and was now a pretty respected driver among the competition. For Ruby on the other hand; this was her fist time racing anywhere outside of Signal Motor Speedway, where she would go and race for fun. Yang had decided that it was prime time that Ruby got into the legal festival racing scene and decided to, almost literally, drag her sister along for this year's races.
During her final year at Signal High, Yang had been allured by the ads she had seen online for people to come down and compete in the festival. So after she begged her mother; a woman by the name of Summer, she saddled up in her beat-up 2005 Acura Integra GT and decided to participate. Though her first year had gone poorly, and she barely fished in the top 200, Yang was filled with drive and given the push to compete again the following year. Her second year had gone 10 times better than her first, she placed in the purple wristband events and had even earned a sponsorship from GoPro. As the blonde's fame grew, so did the amount of prize money she won, and used said money to purchase her Ferrari F12. By the end of her second year, Yang was top of the podium in the purple wristband events.
But in Ruby's case, she had never ventured out from Signal Motor speedway. After Yang had risen to fame at the VRF, she had given Ruby her old 05' Integra as a hand-me-down. Much to Yang's pleasure; Ruby had taken to driving like a duck to water, the girl showed extraordinary skills for someone of such a young age. So after a little bribery and a promise of some cookies, Yang had successfully convinced Ruby to come along.
With this year's season spooling up, Yang had decided to bring along Ruby, this time however; Summer was much more lenient as she loved seeing her daughters bond over something that they could enjoyingly share with each other.
The red-clad racer had only one problem; her Integra didn't meet the minimum performance index ratings to compete, meaning she either needed to buy a new car, or stand at the sidelines and be a spectator.
Two things she wasn't really fond of doing.
Before Ruby could think any further her body lurched forward, straining against the racing harness as the 1525 kilogram Maranello monster came to an abrupt halt.
Ruby was glad she skipped out on lunch today.
Looking to her sister by two years, Ruby gave a disgruntled look to which Yang smiled at.
"We're here~" Yang excitedly sang.
Continuing to give Yang the stink eye, Ruby slowly turned her focus from the grinning blonde to the café before her. The Café was sat next to a short dirt side road, and mainly served as a rest stop for the general public, but when the festival kicked up, the place was turned into a small gathering spot for drivers; newcomers and veterans alike.
"C'mon, let's go get something to drink, we still have an hour before the festival starts."
Yang beckoned as she climbed out of the Berlinetta, Ruby in tow. The crimsonette gave a quizzical look as to why Yang had rolled the windows back up and locked the car, the cafe had a patio that sat 3 feet from the small dirt parking lot rendering the car impossible to steal without them noticing.
Questions aside Ruby took a deep breath in and out, reveling in the fresh smell of the nearby river and sweet aroma of the evergreen trees that shrouded the area.
"Vale is beautiful this time of year isn't it?" Ruby joyfully asked.
No response.
"Yang?"
Nothing.
Ruby turned to find that Yang had already purchased a drink and was sitting down with some redhead. Instinctively Ruby turned back to the F12, only to realize why Yang had put her car on lock-down; it was another one of her ploys to get her to meet new people.
This was something Yang had done often, she always inched Ruby on when it came to broadening her social horizons, Ruby didn't have many friends back at Signal High, as most of her spare time Ruby would spend at the track, fine tuning her skills and her car.
Seeing no way out; Ruby frowned slightly, pulling out her phone she noticed a text from Yang;
/ If you want to be a good racer, you should get to know your competition, get out there and make some friends! /
Rolling her eyes, Ruby unfortunately leaned against the car sitting next Yang's F12 and began to tap a message back, just as she was about to hit send, an annoyed screech startled her causing her to lose her balance and fall over.
Propping herself up on her elbow Ruby rubbed the back of her head and faced the source of the noise.
There standing before her was a girl no taller than her, dressed in white skinny jeans, a white collared blouse and a light blue bolero jacket, with her frost white hair down. But the thing that scared Ruby the most was those cold and calculating ice-blue eyes.
"What in the world are you doing!" She screeched.
"Uhh, sorry?" Ruby still didn't know what she did wrong.
"You can't just lean up against someone's car like you own it!"
"Huh?" Car? Ruby turned to the 'car' in question and was now filled to the brim with fear.
The car she was leaning on was a snow white, 1.4 million Lien Hypercar, though Ruby didn't recognize the model she did notice the Oval shaped emblem baring the name; Pagani.
"What are you? Some kind of brain dead dunce!? Do you have any idea what that says?" The girl in white pointed to the badge that bared the model of the car, squinting her eyes Ruby carefully read;
"Pa-gan-i." She carried onto the model "H-h, uh yeeeer, oh-ah? H-h-y-r-ha?' Ruby was clearly befuddled by the second word.
"This is what I mean with you rookie drivers!" This girl was scaring Ruby more and more.
"-It's pronounced Way-ra actually." A third voice had entered the so-called conversation. Standing over Ruby and offering her hand was a mysterious raven-haired girl who looked to be the same age as Yang, with brilliant amber eyes and a bow resting on her head. This new mystery girl wore an all black ensemble except for her purple skinny jeans.
"Wayra, named after Wayra or 'God of the winds', claimed by Car and You magazine as super car of the year."
"Finally someone who isn't a mindless moron." The one in white said.
Taking the hand offered to her; Blake pulled Ruby back to her feet,
"Thanks, ... uhm what's your name?"
"Blake."
"Well Blake, I'm Ruby."
"Are either one of you going to pay for the damages to my car!?"
"There's no damages." They said in unison.
"Ugh! Whatever, just walk away and don't ever talk to me again." And with that the white-clad girl stomped off. Ruby turned to Blake only, to find that she too was strutting away, directly towards a midnight black Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
Ruby moped her way back over to Yang's F12 and sat down next to it, before she knew it Yang was already somberly looming over her. Passing Ruby an ice cream sandwich Yang sat in the dirt next to her.
"Make any friends sis?"
"Unless you count getting chewed out and shown up by someone as a friend, than yes I just made two awesome friends." Ruby finished her sarcastic rant with a gesture towards the two girls she had just crossed paths with. Yang followed the gesture with a slightly shocked look.
"Ruby? Do you have any idea who those two are?"
'N-No."
"That girl in the white." Yang pointed "is Weiss Schnee, as in super rich Schnee Aerodynamics, Weiss. She was last year's champion in the gold wristband events."
The mention of Weiss jogged Ruby's memory a bit, the gold wristband events were the highest you could go. Ruby had vividly remembered Yang coming home after the festival and complaining that the 'Princess' as she called her, beat her again. Her F12 was no match for Weiss' Huayra and time after time Yang lost, however as time went on, a competitive friendship had blossomed between the girls and are currently pretty close friends.
"Right, but what about that Blake girl?"
"Oh! Sis got a name! Nice job!"
"Shut up!"
"Fine, anyways, Blake is the blue wristband champ, I had to beat her once so i could move on to the purple wristband events."
Ruby just nodded along as she ate her sandwich, it wasn't a cookie, but it'd have to do for now. As the sisters a at together watching the tree branches sway in the cool breeze; Yang noticed a group of people crowding around Blake's SLS AMG.
Amid a mix of curiosity and fear Ruby was pulled over by none other than her overzealous sister. As the girls drew closer to the car the faint sound of someone talking on the radio get louder, Yang recognized the voice while Ruby had no idea who or what it was.
"That's right folks you just heard it, Ozpin himself is offering 24 spots up for grabs in this year's team racing events, if you want in, get yourself and your car down here now! And remember you heard it first here on 106.9.'"
At the end of the sentence, the serene and quiet atmosphere was lost as everyone scrambled to their vehicles. Motor after motor started, this was a one-time opportunity and no one wanted to miss out.
"C'mon! I'm not missing this!" Yang beckoned as she joined the mad dash to her vehicle. In mere seconds Yang and Ruby climbed into the car. With a electronic click the engine started up, The advanced TCS system kicked in as Yang floored the gas pedal, the car was able to avoid wheel-spin and shot through the dust cloud that now blanketed the parking lot. Veering into the main road; Yang diligently shifted into third gear, the 7-speed dual-clutch semi-automatic gearbox allowing for super short shifts. In front of Yang was none other the sleek rear of Blake's SLS AMG, Yang could see the small extendable wing popping up out of the rear deck meaning that they were already going 100 miles per hour.
"Oh! And the first two spots hive been taken, better get here fast!'" The radio boomed as Yang drove along.
Yang tapped the steering wheel mounted shift-er once more, the car flew past Blake's as it shifted into fourth. The small two lanes of the side road twisted along the Riverside, the festival was 2 miles away meaning that her chances of getting a spot were slightly better than null.
Ruby smiled at the fact that her sister was leading the small horde of cars that left the café, but she was grimacing at Yang's crazy driving, something Yang was well known for.
Smiling as she slid into sixth, Yang took another turn without braking, the cars advanced aerodynamics allowed for tight cornering at high speeds.
But her F12 wasn't the only car that could do that.
In her rear view mirror, Yang noticed the sun shine off of a bright white dot, as the dot approached Yang quickly made out that is was none other than Weiss and her Huayra.
"We're down to just 18 spots left people! Hurry!"
"Not this time!" Yang shouted as she slammed her foot further, the F12 was going 165 miles per hour with Weiss hot on her tail.
The Huayra's V-12 had the same 730 horsepower of Yang's F12, but Weiss had one advantage;
Twin - turbo.
As Weiss approached the rear of the F12, Yang shifted into seventh. But Weiss was still gaining ground on her, as the first and only turn of their two mile route approached, Yang slowed the car down and veered left, taking the inside of the turn Yang forgot once again about the superior handling of Weiss' Huayra.
The one advantage Weiss had was the active aerodynamics of her car, capable of changing the height of the front from the ground and independently operating four flaps placed at the rear and front of the car. The behavior of the flaps is managed by a dedicated control unit that feeds information from systems such as the ABS and ECU, allowing the flaps to lean into the turn much like that of an airplane.
"C'mon people! Just ten spots left!"
As Yang began to regain speed, Weiss shot past her and down the last stretch to the festival. Now on a main road and continuing to speed up, Yang swerved out of the way as a red and orange 2011 Koenigsegg Agera blew past her.
"What the hell!" She yelled, Ruby sat back in awe, that Agera was easily going 200 miles per hour.
Pulling the car from the dirty shoulder to the warm asphalt, Yang silently fumed with anger as yet another car passed her, her expression however, changed as she realized who it was, at the helm of yet another Pagani, this one a Zonda R, was her close friend Pyrrha Nikos whom she was just talking to at the café.
"6 spots people! 6!"
"Hang on Rubes!" Yang shouted over the roar of the engine, the car was able to quickly regain it's speed, now barreling down the road at 187 miles per hour. Flags dotted the sides of the road as they entered the epicenter if the festival. The F12 began to slow down as Yang reached the checkpoint.
Flying through the finishing gates; Yang let out a loud whoop as they claimed their spot.
Behind her 4 other cars had made it too, Blake's SLS AMG, along with a 2011 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, a 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, and a 2012 Nissan GT-R Black Edition.
Yang couldn't make out who the drivers were.
"We made it! Whoo Yes!" Yang was shouting out the window as her car slowed to a crawl and approached the festival's main gates.
Once more Ruby sat back in the seat in total awe, the festival was huge! It was separated into four sectors; the car showcase; where you could purchase new cars, the garage area for tuning and customization, the main stage, and the rest area. The festival had followed a neon red theme with VRF flags doting the entire area. The festival center could be reached by two separate roads that came in from the North and East, forming a cross-hair shape in the middle.
"Hello? Remnant to Ruby?, anyone there?" Yang asked as she waved her hand in front of Ruby's shocked face.
"..."
"Had the same reaction my first time..." Yang muttered.
As Yang's F12 rolled to the greeters toll booth, she noticed Blake's SLS AMG behind her, the raven-haired girl giving her a sly smile.
As Yang finally reached the booth, she rolled the window down the rest of the way. There standing in front of her car was a blonde haired boy with a headset on his head and a clipboard in his hands.
He approached the car and leaned towards the window, Yang instantly remembered who he was.
"Hey Yang! Welcome back!"
"Still working the booth Jaune?" Yang retorted.
"N-no! Well yeah... but I got a car this year and I am destined to race." Jaune proclaimed with confidence.
"What kind?"
"You, are looking at the proud owner of a new KTM X-BOW R." Jaune said as he took a triumphant pose.
Yang stifled a laugh "X-BOW? Like one of those open-wheeler? Those things are just glorified go-karts"
"No they're not, my Dad always told me that-, you know what just take this pass and head on through."
The latter blonde handed Yang a small pamphlet, inside was all of the basic info on the festival, as well as an advert for this year's team racing. Yang tossed it to Ruby who began to read;
/ Vytal Racing festival 2014, this year we're proud to feature our latest endeavor team racing-/
Ruby skipped over the legal info and read the last sentence
/ Head to the keynote this evening at 6:00 to get the details from Ozpin himself, don't miss it!/
Ruby sighed, it looked like she might end up being a spectator after all. Yang took note of her sisters somber mood and decided to cheer her up.
"C'mon sis! Let's head over to Junior's garage, that's where the magic happens!"
"Fine..."
Yang slowly drove to the eastern side of the festival, there; sat Junior's garage, the place was used by the drivers to upgrade and customize their cars, because this is a competition all mods had to be done by the drivers themselves because there just wasn't enough mechanics to go around.
As the F12 pulled into a large tented area, Yang quick pointed out where Junior was, the man was currently looming over the Massive V10 located in the back of a gold Saleen S5S Raptor, its owner Yang recognized as none other then the ginger himself;
Cardin Winchester.
Yang pulled the car to a halt and watched the scene before her,
"How many times have I told you Winchester! No illegal mods!" Junior yelled as he slammed the rear shell of the Raptor shut.
"Pffft, whatever man, just fix the thing so I can race already." Cardin spat.
Junior shook his head as he walked away, "Damn kids think you can get away with everything..."
"Is that Junior?" Ruby asked as she undid her racing harness.
"Yeah that's him, that other guy is Cardin Winchester, stay away from him, he's totally bad news." Yang explained.
Ruby nodded along as the two girls exited the car, Ruby took in her surroundings, along the length of the large tented area, was dozens of cars, each with their respective owners working on them. As Ruby continued to look around, a voice broke her from her thoughts.
"Blondie! You're here!"
"Yeah I'm back" Yang beamed "I'll take the usual, inspect the car and text me the deets."
"You got it." Junior left Cardin's S5S Raptor behind and got right down to business on Yang's F12.
After showing Ruby around, Yang led her younger sister to the keynote speech taking place on the main stage.
The main stage was located in a flat grassy field right next to the automotive showcase building, a massive stage usually to showcase top bands, such as the 'Achieve Men'.However tonight the stage was being used by Ozpin, the COO of the festival, at the mention of team racing almost all of the ranked drivers took an immediate interest and flooded to the festival. Ozpin had given 24 of the 40 spots up to any diver willing to participate, and lucky for Yang; she was one of them.
As the crowd awaited Ozpin's arrival; Ruby was beginning to think that agreeing to come along had been a bad idea. The red-clad racer had no car, no money, and didn't even have a place in the team competition. As she stared at the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world, Yang tried to cheer her up, this time though she already had a sure fire plan in place.
"Rubes, don't worry about it, I have a surprise for ya later, that'll turn that frown upside-down~."
Ruby couldn't help but smile at Yang's silly wording, turning to her elder sister Ruby wanted to know what the 'surprise' in question was. But a surprise isn't a surprise if you tell.
As their bantering carried on, a third individual had began to make her way to the chatting sisters. Ruby waved to Blake as she walked up from behind Yang.
"H-Hey Blake!"
"Ruby."
Yang turned and faced her raven-haired competitor.
"Blake! You made it!"
Recoiling from Yang's outburst Blake shook her head yes. It was then a fourth voice entered the conversation.
"What's she doing here?" This was Weiss, everyone except Blake took a step back at the sudden appearance of the girl. She was pointing to Ruby with an 'Are you kidding me!' Look on her face.
Yang gave Weiss a once over, "No, 'Hello how are you Yang?' And you say I have no manners... but if you must know; she's gonna race in the team tournaments princess."
As the white and yellow pair began to bicker like an old couple, Blake nudged Ruby in the arm.
"It's so obvious."
Ruby turned, "What'dya mean?"
"Weiss and Yang, the two do this all the time. They argue, have a race to see who's right, and then come close to kissing each-other but never do, seriously those two should just get together already."
Ruby's eyes widened and her face flushed, she had remembered Yang talking about some girl she likes and by the way Yang had described her, Weiss was a perfect match.
"So how do you know Yang?" Ruby wanted to desperately change the subject.
"We raced against each-other last year, what about you?"
"Oh she's my sister, and decided to bring me along this year."
"Well that's very nice of her the festival i-" Blake was cut off as the loud sound of a microphone cracking filled the otherwise still air.
"Evening ladies and gentlemen!" The crowed cheered at Ozpin's greeting. The man appeared to be in his late forties, dressed in a casual green and black suit.
"Now I'm going to cut right to the chase, you are here right now because, you've chosen to compete in the team events featured this year rather than the intended standards, so allow me to give you a brief rundown on how this will work." The crown quieted down, allowing for him to continue. "The team based events will work like so; two days from today the 40 of you will participate in a series of races that will determine what team you will be on, teams will consist of 4 drivers each. No more, no less. In terms of the actual races, they will take place in the surrounding area. A race will consist of 1 member from each team as a representative, if that rep wins the race, they earn a point for their respective team, and at the end of the season, the team with the most points wins the grand prize, the prize this year is a secret so please, don't ask."
The crowd began to cheer, before being silenced by Ozpin again. "For now however, enjoy the festival, go see a showcase, enjoy the food, and get some practice in before the qualifiers." With not another word Ozpin walked off the stage, and the crowd cheered once more.
Ruby was finally accepting the fact that she wouldn't be racing this year, Yang didn't bring her out here to watch, did she?
As the night came to a close, Ruby and Yang checked themselves into Carson Motel, which was a few miles Northwest of the festival. Their small room consisted of two beds, a small TV, and a rather off-putting bathroom. The hotels and motels in the surrounding area to the festival always jacked up their prices because a bunch of young rich drivers was a cash cow for the owners.
The Motel was located in a small town named Carson, it had a simple layout; a long main road that stretched from end to end, and multiple shops, hotels, and other accommodations rested along it. Behind those buildings was smaller residential property.
Yang flopped on to the bed and let out a sigh of relief, it was a total fluke she made it into the new competition this year. The blonde looked to the her sister who was sitting on the opposite bed, playing racing games on her phone.
"Alright I think you've waited long enough sis." Yang said as she left her bed and joined Ruby on hers.
"Is this about the surprise you mentioned?" Ruby aid as she paused her game.
"Yeah it is, you ready?" Yang excitedly asked.
"Uh yeah?"
"I have a way where you can get into the team events on Tuesday and get you a nice, shiny new car."
"WHAT! REALLY!?" Ruby leaped up from the bed and landed in the center of the room.
"Kay, here it is, I pulled some strings and managed to get you into one of those showcase events tomorrow. You'll be driving a brand-new Lotus Evora GT, if you win, you get a spot on the competition and the keys to the car, easy!"
"Sounds too good to be true, what's the catch?"
"No catch, just win and that's it!" Yang said a little to quickly.
"What am I up against?" Ruby prodded on.
"Oh ya'know... a vehicle..." Yang averted her eyes to anything but Ruby.
"Yang you're a terrible lair."
"Alright, you may or not be racing against a helicopter...through the Mantle valley...with a live TV crew filming your every move."
"WHAT!?" Ruby was shocked, scared, and a tad bit interested.
"Look, just calm down! My car got cleared to compete, we'll head over there tomorrow and get some practice in before the event starts."
"You and your bright ideas sis...'
"Come on Ruby! You got this in the bag, give it a chance hm?"
"F-Fine." Ruby begrudgingly accepted Yang's great idea, all she had to do know was win a race against a helicopter, in car she's never driven before, in front of millions of people.
"Oh no..." Ruby sighed as she flopped back onto her bed.
Make it or break it, she was going to do this.
A/N Well hopefully I won't ruin the story! Please Fav/Follow/Review!
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