To everyone who read, reviewed, favourited, and followed: thank you! Thank you so much! I didn't expect my little one-shot to get this much support!
Like before, up to around 2016/17-ish lore and characters aspects, not described yada yada yada.
And now, without further ado, by popular request,
"I never knew my car could go this fast!" = Dialogue
'It's too fast. I don't understand anything at all!' = Thoughts
"Fly away!" = Song title / lyrics
"So Close!" = Video
Alpha'sThrowawayAccount Presents:
JNPR Car: Second Stage
Two Years Ago
It was a rather hot night in Mount Ansel compared to how it usually feels, Jaune noted. Coincidentally, that's probably what his opponent is feeling right now, standing in front of him. Hot rage.
"You've got good technique, I'll give you that." Jaune leaned against his car. It rumbled as the engine was kept turned on. His left hand went to his pocket and pulled out some coffee candy. He popped one into his mouth, savouring the taste. "But you've still got a long way to go, especially if you want to challenge me."
His opponent tonight didn't answer, merely looking down at the ground with his fists clenched. His body was also shaking slightly. Jaune sighed and lifted himself off of his car. Taking one last good look at his opponent, Jaune then turned around and went back inside his car.
'Honestly, I can understand his rage and shock.' Jaune thought to himself. 'Getting beat by a 16-year-old so blatantly probably wasn't easy, especially since he's at least 23 from the looks of it.'
Jaune pressed the clutch pedal and shifted his car into the first gear. He rolled down the windows to speak again.
"I'll see you around, Kyoichi."
With that, he stepped on the gas and left Mount Ansel's parking lot, riding back home in his white Messa RK-7 FC3S.
Left alone at the lot, Kyoichi couldn't understand what happened. In their race, he could barely keep up with Jaune. Even though his car's tuned for 270 HP and had rally systems installed, he could barely keep up with the inferior RWD 190 HP FC. With this, he made a solemn promise with himself. 'One day, Jaune Arc. I'll beat you.'
To understand Yang Xiao-Long's fascination with the Street Series, we need to go back to around 10 months ago. At that time, she was bored out of her mind. Signal's teaching year had just ended and with it her time at said academy. With nothing to do between graduation and entering Beacon, she had to find something to keep her occupied. It was during a rainy night, lying on her bed, not being able to go out with her friends, she scrolled idly across DustTube on her Scroll. Going through the list of recommended videos, she found something that caught her eye.
It wasn't a video made by channels she's subscribed to, or even ones that were related to those channels. Instead, this video was made by a channel called "Street Series - Vale [OFFICIAL]". The video was called;
Miruka Night Kids vs Atarashii Red Flashes! Kei Takahashi [FD3S] takes on Takeshi Nakazato [R32GTR] on Miruka Mountain's dangerous downhill!
The thumbnail showed two cars racing on a mountain pass, one coloured yellow and the other coloured all-black. They were going around a corner. Curiously, while the black car seemed to turn like a normal car, the yellow one instead looks like it's spinning out. Though, something tells Yang that the car is doing anything but that.
With her interest piqued, she decided to open the video.
The video starts with two red lines crisscrossing each other with a black backdrop, forming two S letters. The S letters were then filled with the colour red, and the backdrop changed to white. Then, words between the two S's started to form.
Street Series.
Lastly, several words appeared below it.
Vale Branch.
The screen faded to white, and an announcer began speaking as the camera panned across a parking lot at the top of a mountain.
"Welcome everyone to the Vale branch of Street Series! I'm your host, Hassan, and we've got an exciting race tonight! Continuing with their sweep of Greater Vale, the Red Flashes have now challenged one of the best teams here, the Miruka Night Kids!"
The camera panned to a group of racers talking with each other. The text "MIRUKA NIGHT KIDS" appeared on the screen.
"Highly competitive, the Miruka Night Kids team are a skilled group of racers consisting of locals from around Miruka mountain. Their leader is the fastest in Miruka, the Black Shadow, Takeshi Nakazato! The second fastest is his second in command and rival, the Red Civvie, Shingo Shoji!"
"On the other side…" The camera panned to a different group of racers, located directly across the Night Kids. "We have the Atarashii Red Flashes!" the text appeared again, reading "ATARASHII RED FLASHES". "Led by Kei Takahashi, they dominate the Mount Atarashii scene. To this day, they only have one loss on their record!"
Yang nodded along. "Okay…"
Hassan spoke again "We'll be switching to our on-foot representative, Lucy. Are you with me, Lucy?" The video switched to a different camera, this one on the ground rather than a drone floating from before. The shot showed a woman holding a mic.
"Yes, I'm here." She began walking around, the cameraman following her. "The tension's really rising tonight. If you haven't been informed, the ones representing each team will be their leaders. Right now, speculation is going around the crowd. On one hand, Kei is known for his outstanding cornering speed and skill. His FD has undoubtedly been tuned to fit Miruka's specifications. On the other hand, Takeshi is a rare breed of racer in the Street Series. His grip style is rapidly evolving, as does his skill with his GTR. Add to that his status as one of the oldest local drivers in Miruka by driving time, you can see why people aren't sure who truly has the upper hand here."
Hearing these words, Yang became more and more interested. This looks like a fully sanctioned event, complete with proper backing and maybe some drama between racers! Even though she didn't know a lot about cars, she could tell that the ones the leaders were driving were fancy, top-of-the-line models.
Slowly, a smile began to creep on her face. 'Why haven't I heard of this before?! This looks like tons of fun!'
"We'll be asking for the crowd's thoughts while waiting for the race to start, which should be…" She checked her watch. "In around 15 minutes." Lucy approached one of the crowd members. "Excuse me, sir!"
"Hm, yeah?"
"I'm Lucy, from Street Series Vale Branch Broadcast. Tonight's race is one of the tensest in a while. Who would you say has the highest chance of winning?"
"Takeshi. 100 Percent. The FD's not even in the same league as the R32, especially with its AWD and traction control."
"Right. Thank you for your time, sir."
She walked away and approached another member of the crowd, this time a group of women.
"Excuse me, girls. My name is Lucy, from the Street Series Vale Branch Broadcast team. Who are you rooting for?"
"Kei, of course!"
"Any reason why?"
"He hasn't lost before! Plus, he's so dreamy!"
"Heh, all right then girls, enjoy the race."
Lucy walked away a bit from the crowd. As soon as they were clear, Lucy began speaking again.
"As you can see, we've got supporters for both teams in thi-." She suddenly stopped as the cameraman began speaking. After that, Lucy's face showed surprise. She moved the mic away from her mouth as she spoke again "Wait, really?" The cameraman's hand went into view, pointing out two specific men amongst the crowd.
Yang couldn't recognize who these people were, but judging from Lucy's reaction, they were obviously important.
"I can't believe it!" Lucy spoke again. Hurriedly, she ran towards the two men one quite tall and with brown hair, the other shorter with a really weird cut.
The cameraman followed Lucy, and eventually they stopped as Lucy interviewed the two men.
"Excuse me, my name is Lucy, from the Street Series Vale Branch Broadcast team. You're Anima's White Phantom, Takumi Fujiwara, right?"
"Y-yeah." The boy stuttered while looking anywhere but Lucy or the camera lens.
'He's so shy on camera!' Yang noted. 'Heh, just like Ruby.'
"Amazing! If you don't know who this is, viewers-."
Yang leaned closer. "Uh-huh…"
"This is Takumi Fujiwara, Anima's White Phantom! A rising star in the Street Series scene! Hailing from Mount Anima, Sentra, Greater Vale, he's managed to beat both the Night Kids and the Red Flashes on multiple occasions! To top it all off, no one's ever heard of him before his first race and subsequent victory over Kei Takahashi. With his legendary Yuta AE86, he looks set to become one of the best candidates for the highly sought-after title, Fastest in Vale!"
The camera panned to an old car with a panda colour scheme. The words "Fujiwara Tofu Shop" were written on its side.
Yang felt surprised. 'This guy beat all of them with that kind of car?! What kind of prodigy is he?!'
"Back to the race at hand! Mr. Fujiwara, what do you think of the race coming up?"
"Uh, well, I don't really know…" He trailed off. "I think Kei might win, but Takeshi's not going to make it easy…"
"Give some more insight, idiot!" His shorter friend bumped his head. Takumi rubbed his head in pain. "Alright, alright! Sheesh…"
"Um, well, last time I raced Takeshi, he had a lot of problems managing his tires, at least I think so. For Kei, I think, um… He tends to get too cocky, you can tell by his driving style a bit. Other than that, I don't really know."
"Thank you for the input, Mr. Fujiwara." Lucy looked at her watch. "Looks like the race is about to start. As usual, our drones will be covering the race as it goes on, as well as stationary cameras in the more heated corners. Back to you, Hassan."
"Thank you, Lucy. Looks like the race is starting."
The camera changed to the drone shot above the two racers. The two cars, the R32 and the FD3S, were lined up at the starting line. In front of both of them stood a man with his right hand in the air.
Yang rubbed her hands eagerly. "Here we go…"
The man opened his palms, all five fingers stretched in the air.
"Race starts in 5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Go!"
"Maurizio De Jorio - Running In the 90s."
Almost instantly, both cars took off. Their tires skidded on the asphalt, with dust and debris sent scattered in the air. With a roar from the R32 and a buzz from the FD, Takeshi and Kei took off down the treacherous downhill.
"The R32 takes the lead! No doubt the R32's ATTESA E-TS traction control helped with the liftoff!"
Both cars went full speed. Takeshi and Kei shifted in harmony, the whine of their turbos sounding clear as day. Slowly, Kei was forced to stay right behind the R32, its superior RB26DETT engine proving too much for the FD's rotary 13B-REW.
"Amazing speed from both cars! They're pushing 100 KM/H in these straights!"
"Modem talking! Modern walking in the streets! New desire!"
"Here comes the first corner! A medium right with a slight downhill slope!"
Takeshi braked and downshifted. The turbo gauge on his dashboard went down. He turned his wheel and lightly stepped on the pedal. The R32 gripped the turn with precision.
"Take me higher! Lift me higher with your speed!"
Behind him, Kei downshifted and kicked the clutch. Turning his wheel, he brought the FD into a drift.
"I need fire!"
By nature of drifting, his entry speed was higher than Takeshi. However, if he didn't watch himself, he could exit the turn with much less speed than his opponent. Applying careful counter-steer and pedal work, he exited the turn with equal speed as the Night Kids' leader.
Yang watched in amazement. That yellow car's move was so cool! It's like losing control, but not at the same time! The R32's coolness paled in comparison, but she could see that skill was still needed. And this music! It suits the race so well!
"Get the satellite if you wanna see me!"
The two drivers continued at it. "Amazing first turn! Kei was able to use the FD's faster turning speed to keep up with Takeshi's greater top speed!"
"Talking on the net! I know the way you like it!"
The two cars raced down another straight. This time, the FD began losing ground slowly but surely.
"Get that debit card! 'Cause I need no money!"
"It looks like the RK7's lower horsepower means that Kei can't quite keep up in the straights! But with a higher cornering speed, Takeshi won't be out of the woods just by horsepower alone!"
"All I wanna get is you baby!"
The two cars approached a sharp left, followed by an easy right. Takeshi grunted and braked a tad bit harder, Kei instead entering a drift long before the turn. Takeshi turned his car around the corner, making sure to keep his temper in check.
"Running in the 90's!"
Takeshi's voice broke through to the broadcast team, who had attached mics to each contestant's interior. "Tch! He's faster on the sharp turns! I don't have the luxury of drifting those."
"Is a new way I like to be!"
Takeshi exited the turn, plunging his gas pedal all the way. The R32's boost and traction control kicked in. The result was an out-of-corner acceleration unmatched by the FD "I'll pull away in this easy right turn. The R32's acceleration should be superior. I'll show you the skills I learned since I lost!"
"I'm just running in the 90's!"
And sure enough, the time that Kei gained in the turn was almost lost in the easy right. Almost, being the key word. Kei could sense that he still shaved off around 0.3 seconds on that turn.
"Come on baby run to me!"
"I'll have to prioritize these corners. Can't make a mistake otherwise Takeshi would pull ahead. I won't let myself be embarrassed again like I did with the 86!"
She was right! There was drama between these racers! Yang cheered. "This is the best!"
She quickly covered her mouth and paused the video once she realized she said that out loud. With wide eyes, she glanced around. Noting her family didn't hear her, she let out a sigh and pressed play on the video again.
Yang smiled widely, ready to watch some more.
And watch more she did. The race had her pumped, with tension and adrenaline running through her blood as the racers went across each corner. The commentary from the broadcast team as well as each racer's observations/dialogue throughout the race kept pulling her in, as well as the dangerous way they raced. It wasn't a circuit where everything was kept safe. No, in a mountain pass, mistakes were often more fatal.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the two racers approached the final sections of the downhill.
Kei pressed fully on the gas pedal. With all that time shaved off before, he finally managed to get enough speed to go side-by-side with Takeshi.
"We are running in the 90's!"
Hassan voiced his amazement "What's this?! Kei is planning to make a pass here?! We've only got one turn left folks, A medium left! Can Kei pull this off?!"
"Is a new way to set me free!"
Takeshi's steering faltered in surprise "What're you doing?! Our cars won't fit, dumbass!"
Kei took a deep breath and focused. He could visualize the line he was about to take. It was on the outside, touching a small patch of grass just before the guardrail. If he could hit that, then their cars will just barely fit.
"Now!"
"I'm just running in the 90's!"
Kei downshifted and kicked the clutch. Applying counter-steer and proper pedal work, he aimed his car at that patch of grass.
Kei's aim was true. Kei hit that patch of grass, kicking up dirt. Even though he was on the outside and his tires were hitting the less-traction dirt section, the FD's cornering-focused design allowed it to keep up with the heavier R32 that took the inside.
"Yes I wanna know!"
They exited the corner as one, the FD's bumper still in a drift and blocking the R32 from passing. The FD soon straightened, now ahead by half a car. All that was left was the straightaway to the finish line, a place where the R32's engine and turbo shines.
"Yes I wanna see!"
Yang was jumping on her bed. "Come on! Come on, Kei!"
Takeshi glanced at his boost gauge. "Full boost, let's go!"
Kei could feel the sweat drip down his brow. He put his feet even deeper into the gas. "Tch!"
The R32 slowly gained on the FD as they raced side by side. The roar of the RB26 and the buzz of the 13B echoed in the night, both going to higher and higher RPMs.
"It's going to be a photo finish, everyone!"
The cars passed the finish line in a blur.
Click!
"Finish!"
"And what a race that's been! The photo shows that…" Hassan trailed off as the picture was sent to the broadcast team. With shaking hands, he received it from the team who just printed it.
"The winner is the FD, by 10 millimeters!"
"YES!"
"Yang?" She heard her father call from downstairs. "Is everything alright?"
Yang clamped her mouth shut. With red cheeks, she stuttered "Uh, yeah, dad! It's nothing!"
"Alright! Dinner's about to be ready in 5!"
"Coming!"
Yang pocketed her scroll and went downstairs. She couldn't wait to watch some more.
2 Months in Beacon's First Semester
Team RWBY walked around the rental lot. They were looking for a good car that can fit four people comfortably. Since they'd be going to various locations around Vale, Weiss decided (read: forced) that the team had to rent a car so they wouldn't have to jump from one public transport to another.
They soon found out that looking for a car that can fit four people was just too broad of a criteria. There were lots of choices, from SUVs, four-door-sedans, minivans, and so much more.
It was then that something caught Yang's eye. The car was a four-door compact car, parked neatly between two four-door sedans. To the untrained eye, it just looked like an old car sandwiched between two newer sedans, but Yang knew better. Having watched countless Street Series videos and learning more and more about the racing scene ever since that day 10 months ago, she knew that this car was a splendid choice.
From what Yang could recall, this generation of the car type was released around 5 years ago, the first of its kind. After its racing-spec release, it took the rally world by storm. Even when selling it to the public, the manufacturer kept all of the rally tech intact, including all-wheel drive, stiffened suspensions, and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. It had a hood scoop straight off the factory, as well as a rear wing.
The Wataru Intresa GC8A WRX STI truly is a great car.
Yang grinned, a plan forming in her mind.
Step one; get the others to agree to rent this car.
Step two; go to Vale as often as possible with the team, no matter how trivial the reason, so they can ride the car again and again.
Step three; eventually Weiss will get frustrated and just buy the car outright from the rental.
Step four; profit.
"Gals! I just found one that you'll like!"
"Hm?" Weiss turned to Yang and began walking over. She eyed the car briefly and her nose wrinkled. "This? It's old!"
Ruby was about to say something but noticed the look in her sister's eyes. 'Uh-oh, she's got that look again…'
"I think we should just do what Yang says, Weiss…"
Weiss turned to her partner, about to retort but saw her pleading eyes. She could just hear Ruby going 'Please, just listen, I'm the one who's been living with her for years!'
With a sigh, Weiss relented "Ugh, fine. We'll take this one."
As Weiss called over the rental man, Yang grinned. Meanwhile, Ruby shivered while looking at Yang.
Step one of The Racing Yang ™ was complete.
Present Day
Takeshi parked his car off the road, specifically in the grass near the road. He stepped out of his car and locked it behind him. Carrying his cup of coffee, he leaned his back against the tree and opened the cup lid. He blew at the coffee slightly and began sipping on it.
'Ah. That's the spot.' He enjoyed its bitter taste. He could feel the cold night wind blow against his body. Glancing up at the sky, he admired the beautiful stars that lit up the night, Remnant's shattered moon dwarfing them in size.
'Y'know, this is pretty nice.' He thought. He blew the cup again and took another sip. 'Food and living space covered by Beacon, a part-time job I can get behind, free time in the nights.' He let out a breath. 'Can't complain, really.'
His eyes glanced back to his GTR. 'Plus, I get to take my GTR with me wherever I go.' His mind drifted to another topic. 'Speaking of cars, The Night Kids 've got to do something about that new Atlas team.'
Today, aside from weapon maintenance, he also re-adjusted his settings in his GTR as well as gave it new tires.
'All the other teams in Atlas have already lost. Last I heard, they've already started battling it out with some of the smaller teams around Greater Vale. Won't take long for them to reach Vale Capital.'
His musings weren't interrupted as he heard sounds of tires skidding coming close. He did, however, remind himself to watch who was coming. Takeshi took another sip of his coffee.
'Should I start an alliance? That might be good. But with who? The Anima Speed Stars? No, the only worth they have is in Fujiwara. Hmm, maybe Kei's Red Flashes of Atarashii? He did attempt something like this last year before Fujiwara stopped him, though that was more sweeping around greater Vale and no further. Meanwhile, Atlas' team has the signs of taking over Remnant entirely. There's that other team too, at Beachside Valley. The Hashiriya no Teku, HnT for short. They've got sick cars and good skills. If I'm right, someone named Nolo Pazaro's leading that team.'
Takeshi took a deep breath. 'All of those teams are only good if Shingo's willing to cooperate. Otherwise, the Miruka Night kids will be split in the middle, and we can't bring an alliance like that now, can we?'
The sound of those cars became louder and louder. Eventually, they reached Takeshi, who recognized those cars. It was the local team's leader, Ayama, being followed by an Alzetta. Takeshi almost did a spit take as he recognized that second car. They drifted past him, disappearing through the mountain's downhill path.
Takeshi barked out a laugh.
"Hah! Not racing my ass."
After that display, Takeshi leaned deeper into the tree, contemplating even further. 'Aside from those teams, maybe we can gather some loose talent? There's bound to be some diamonds in the rough, people with skills who slipped by the cracks.'
Takeshi waved his coffee cup slightly, measuring its contents. He thought to himself again. 'This is insane. The whole community is ablaze with this new team.' He took another sip. 'The Street Series is competitive by design. Someone like him, who makes a team and then goes on to beat everyone even outside his own kingdom is almost unheard of. Only a handful of people have ever done inter-kingdom battles, and even fewer have won. If a team can dominate all of Remnant, then it might change the landscape of Street Series forever.'
'We'll have to stop the Blizzards. No matter how tough their leader is.'
Takeshi finished his coffee and went back to his car. He unlocked it and went inside. Turning on the engine, he put the cup in his cupholder and gave the engine a few experimental revs. Satisfied, he lowered the handbrake and shifted into first gear. He drove down the mountain, all the while swearing.
'Be it the Red Flashes, the Anima Speed Stars, The Miruka Night Kids, the HnT, or someone else. You'll go down, Kyoichi Sudo.'
The Next Day
Combat Class was one of the most exciting classes in Beacon. In it, the students of the academy can test their skills against one another. Other students, while watching the fight, are given a chance to watch the fight and understand the variety of fighting styles that come with each individual student.
For some, these aspects were enough to get them sitting with rapt attention (if Professor Goodwitch's strict behaviour didn't force them to before.) For Jaune, however, he could barely keep his eyes open right now.
His partner tried to nudge him awake. He groaned and slightly opened his eyes. " 'm too sleepy, Pyr." He knocked away her hand and sank deeper into his chair. "Lemme sleep…"
Pyrrha's eyes flicked to the professor. Good, she wasn't watching them right now.
"Get up, Jaune!"
"Hmm…"
"Oh no, you're not pulling that with me today. Not after how you drove last night!"
"But it was cool, wasn't it…" Jaune drifted off. His eyes drooped back and he slumped deeper into the chair.
Pyrrha nearly fumed. If she didn't want to marry Jaune in the future, she'd be strangling him right now.
Not long after, the class was dismissed. Pyrrha let out a relieved sigh as everyone headed to the cafeteria. If the professor had noticed Jaune was sleeping, she would have called him out and had him take a sparring session. While he had been improving, Jaune wasn't at a level where he's good as the others just yet.
In the cafeteria, Team JNPR sat with Team RWBY. Looking at their sister team, Pyrrha noted that Yang seemed to be particularly cheerful today.
Aside from her, Jaune picked at his food, his eyelids still drooping every so often. Slowly, he stabbed his beef jerky with his fork and began eating it.
Pyrrha decided to start up some conversation. "So, Yang. What's got you so excited?"
Yang turned to the Mistralian Champion, her grin wide. "Oh, it's nothing. I just set a new time this morning is all."
Beside her, Blake groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. Weiss shot Yang a small glare and Ruby whimpered.
Pyrrha chuckled nervously. "Uh, time?"
"I mean my personal best time at Mt. Gambari's downhill. I've been practicing the times more and more, and this morning I shaved off 2 seconds. Isn't that great?!"
With dawning horror, Pyrrha realized that Yang was talking about racing on the streets.
'No! We can't let Jaune get more incentive to start racing like last night!'
Slowly, Pyrrha's head turned to Jaune. He was still picking his food sleepily, not paying attention to anything other than the fact that he has to eat right now. His movements were sluggish, his chews ever more so.
Pyrrha kept her expression neutral. She had to play it safe here.
"Wow, that's interesting, Yang. Say-"
"You know that leader's pretty fast too, right?" Nora interrupted with a mouthful of pancakes. "he's really good!"
"Nora…" Ren spoke with a low tone. A tick was forming on his forehead.
"But it's true! He can turn real fast! His drifts were all so cool!"
"Huh?" Jaune looked up. His eyes held a small amount of interest "Did somebody say drifting?"
"No!" Pyrrha waved her hands in front of Jaune in denial. "No one said anything about-."
"Ohhh, you know about racing, Jauney-boy?" Yang asked with a mischievous glint in her eye. She leaned forward, interested.
"Jaune…" Pyrrha growled, making her threat clear. If he spoke anymore about racing, then, well…
Jaune shrugged. "A bit. What's that about your new time?"
Yang beamed proudly, hands on her hips. "5 minutes 30 seconds."
"Car?"
"GC8A."
"Jaune, No!"
"Hmm." Jaune hummed as he stabbed his jerky again. "Not bad," 'For a newbie. Really it's not.' He added in his mind. He continued, "Mind sharing me the footage later? I wanna see for myself. Maybe analyze it a bit."
"Jaune, NO!"
Yang chuckled. "Sure, vomit boy! Just get ready to be blown away by my speed!"
"Alright. Thanks, Ya-"
Pyrrha finally hit her limit. With a cry, she charged at her partner. Damn it!
"Whoa! Shit!"
Fuck this! If he didn't listen to her, then she'll make him listen!
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought!
Bonus Omake that I couldn't fit into the final cut:
One Year Ago
Jaune could hear a knock on his door. "I'm coming in." a voice spoke up. The door opened and his cousin entered the room, Kei Takahashi. Jaune turned from the laptop. "Hey, Kei."
Kei glanced at Jaune's laptop. "What're you working on?"
"Hm? Oh, these are upgrades I'm planning for the FC." Jaune turned back to his laptop and continued his work. "Mostly suspension work and aerodynamics."
"You're not considering adding a turbo? Your FC's the naturally aspirated version after all."
Jaune chuckled. "No. If I did, then the car's power balance would be destroyed. Besides, your FD's got that covered."
Kei let out a silent sigh as he plopped down on Jaune's bed. He knew that part of the reason Jaune didn't want to do any more extravagant upgrades, wasn't just because of the power balance. It's also because he's going to retire soon. With Beacon's entrance window coming up in a year, he'll have to choose between being a full-time racer or a full-time Hunter. Jaune never considered just doing one of them part-time. It just wasn't like him.
Kei knew that Jaune wanted him to eventually take his place at the top. That's another reason why Jaune didn't bother getting a turbo.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by Jaune "Anyway. You're here for something, right?"
"Huh?"
"Come on, Kei. You wouldn't have gone all the way from the Sentra expedition just for a social visit."
"W-well, thing is, ummm…"
"What is it?" Jaune saved his work and closed his laptop. He turned back to his cousin.
"I-I lost."
"You lost? Where?"
"Mount Anima's downhill, to an old Yuta AE86."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "AE86? Really?"
Kei got up from Jaune's bed "I swear, J. He's got a monster under the hood!" Kei's voice rose. "There's no way that junk could beat my mountain-spec FD stock!"
"The important thing here is that he did." Jaune said calmly. "Did you see him at the first meet? The one where you introduce yourselves to the locals?"
Kei shook his head. "No, he wasn't there. Most of them drove X13s, X14s, and 180STs."
"This is getting better by the second." A smile began to creep onto Jaune's face. In Jaune's opinion, A little challenge wouldn't hurt anyone. It'd be a chance for Kei to grow. Though, he wasn't without concerns. Just how good was this 86?
Jaune decided to get back on topic. "Do you still have the black box footage?"
"It's at my car. I'll give it to you right now."
Jaune nodded his approval "Right. And Kei, when do you plan on getting a rematch? I know for sure you won't let this stand."
"About a week and a half from now I guess."
"Alright. Once I'm done analysing it here, I'm coming with."
"What?!" Kei was shocked. Jaune was going to Sentra?! Granted, despite its name, Sentra and Mount Anima wasn't actually in Anima. Rather it was in Greater Vale. It merely got its name because most people who lived there were descendants of immigrants from Anima around 150 years ago.
Jaune let out a chuckle. "You've got me interested, Kei. You make it sound like he beat you without breaking a sweat. Heh. I want to meet the kind of guy who beat my baby cousin."
Kei sputtered. "I'm only three months younger than you!"
Jaune waved that away. "Like I said, baby."
With a huff and a pout, Kei exited Jaune's room.