Stage Two: What is Firestorm Flash?
Jin slid his foot smoothly against the throttle, pitching his FC sideways as it exited the corner with a nice high-speed drift. The whine of the rotary engine was filling the cockpit as Jin handled the car with exceptional control through the next straightaway. This was his fourth run of the night, but he still didn't think it was fast enough. Just hours earlier, Taihosi foolishly accepted a challenge from Team Firestorm Flash, now Jin's team was racing against the clock to perfect their skills on Mount Ikaoia's downhill. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Jin lightly tapped the brakes, and with some smooth heel and toe, downshifted to second, punching the throttle again as the FC started to slide through corner twenty-three with a nice power over drift…
Remember Jin, the key in driving a rotary, in fact the key in driving any street racing car is not the power that the car puts out, but the balance and harmony between the car and the driver Jin thought back to the words of his mentor, Ken Tajahachi, former street racer and the owner of a small repair shop that Alpha Redline brought their cars to be serviced. Ken was an older man, but his reflexes were still faster than anyone that Jin had ever known. I keep telling you kids, you need to watch the balance. That's how you find your rhythm. Run the course in your mind… Ken's words echoed in Jin's head as he brought the FC to a stop at the bottom of the hill.
Looking at the stopwatch that he had around his neck, Jin looked at his time. Seven minutes and three seconds. Not bad, but not nearly fast enough to be competitive. Whipping out his cell phone, Jin called Rina at the top of the hill and informed her of his time. He could hear her cheering that Jin beat his old time by about three seconds, but Jin still told her that he needed much improvement. "Still not fast enough…" Jin said to himself as he leaned back in the racing seat that he installed in the FC. The rotary engine idled nicely as Jin thought about his last downhill performance. In the glove box, Jin had a notebook and a pen which he recorded all the notes from when he was racing. He noted the corners that had caused him the most trouble and what he had tried to do to correct the mistake. After taking all of his notes and comparing them to his other runs, Jin put the small notebook back in the glove box and revved the engine nice and high before putting the car back into gear and heading back to the top of the mountain.
Minutes later, Jin arrived back at the top of the mountain, just to see that Taihosi's S-14 was racing down past him. He could hear the blow off valve whistling from the powerful SR20DET engine as his friend raced down the hill. As he pulled his car over to the side of the road, Rina ran over to his car and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Well? How was it?" Rina asked about this last run. "It felt nice, but still not the way I want it to feel." Jin said as he snuck another kiss on Rina's cheek, before cutting the engine of the FC and getting out, heading over to Rina's SW20. The bright yellow looked a little dimmer as there wasn't much light on the car at the time, but it was still damn bright as the two walked up to her car and looked it. Both of them slid into the cockpit sat in their seating and started to talk. "Jin, do you think we'll be ready for the battle meeting on Saturday?" Rina asked for what felt like the hundredth time that night. "I don't know baby. I hope so, but I'm not really sure. I'm going to go into town tomorrow and see what I find out about Firestorm Flash. Hopefully they aren't as badass as they looked" Jin said as he leaned back in his seating waiting for Taihosi to report back.
The next day, Jin drove his car into Ken's shop. The shop was called simply "Ken's" and no one seemed to complain about it. Jin parked his car into a space by the garage and got out, walking over to the garage. Jin could see someone working a blue Impreza 2.5 RS, the person's legs sticking out from underneath the car, singing a song that Jin didn't know. "Hey Kenny!!!" Jin said shouting in through the engine bay. Jin heard a loud thump and a bang as the person underneath swore and came out from underneath the Subaru. "Jin, what did I tell you about screaming when I'm working?!" Ken smiled shouting jokingly at him as he tossed Jin a small towel. "Here, give me a hand with this coilover setup." Ken said as he nodded. Jin smiled as he knew enough about these to help Ken install them. As the two of them continued to work, Jin looked over to Ken. "Ken, do you know anything about a team Firestorm Flash?" "Ken looked over at Jin and shook his head. "Nope, never heard about em. Stupid sounding name for a team in my opinion though." Ken said as he went back to work on the Subaru. Jin frowned a bit as he continued to work on the car as well.
Suddenly Jin felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see a young man about Jin's age squatting next to him. "Did you ask about Firestorm Flash?" the young man asked Jin. Jin nodded in agreement. "Yes I did. Who are you?" The young man pointed at the Impreza that Jin was working on. "Name's Kenji Suidon. You're working on my car." Jin smiled and shook Kenji's hand before he continued working. "So what do you know about Firestorm Flash?" Jin asked.
Kenji let out a small sigh. "The team was formed about a year ago. They are from the Kinana area and they are serious players. The leader of the team is Akira Firouma. He drives a black S-13 and is said to be one of the fastest in the area. Although not many people have seen him run, they say that his skills are on par with the White Comet of Akagi in Gunma or the leader of Team Emperor on Irohazaka." Jin swallowed a lump in his throat as he listened. That man Jin met on top of Mount Ikaoia yesterday night must have been him. He didn't say much though. Jin asked about the woman who drove the white DC2 and was told that her name was Kira Fujiwaka and she was equally as fast. Kenji also told Jin that his own team the Blackfoxes had been slaughtered by them only three weeks ago and that's how he knew all of this information.
Jin finished putting the tire back on the Impreza as he stood up and looked at Kenji. "Well if these guys are as serious as you say, we're going to have quite the battle on our hands this weekend…" Kenji's eyes widened a bit as he looked at him. "Are you serious? You're taking on team Firestorm Flash?!!! Oh I'm so going to be there!" Kenji said as Jin gave him the information on the battle. He was surprised that he was so interested in a team that had spanked his but misery does love company…
ColeIketani: Yeah, I know the chapter is short, but more are coming!!!