ACT 9 – 9000RPM 'KYOKO Versus AYUMI'

The night grew turbulent as the glow of the moon shined across the valleys and fields as well as the 350GT's silver armour. Fu Huo raced across the night, with his targets set on his former allies, the Divine Unit Generals. He cruised his way at a moderate pace, and finally entering one of his most familiar routes at the side of the mountain – Route D1.

Fu Huo continued on, saving his tyre grip along the curves, while he continued to think to himself as to why his plan could screw up like it did. It was as if he almost forgot about the fact that he had just defeated his mentor in a race.
AYUMI tells me that there is only one possibility that Kanae could have lost…

The only answers that Fu Huo could get are only one word – KYOKO.
Strangely, AYUMI had beeped at his helmet, giving him a strange signal. It seemed to be oncoming traffic behind him. Though it was only one vehicle.

Fu Huo glanced at his mirror, as he continued to cruise in his Skyline 350GT. A shining bright white object from a distance had begun to close in on the Skyline.
He observed on, operating AYUMI to give him a better image of the object in his display monitor.

Fu Huo looked closely, at the image displayed to him of what was an NSX-R slowly approaching his car from behind…

That's Minako… Hm… you should never have been chosen to drive that thing. You're going down tonight!
Fu Huo immediately concluded that the NSX-R was an enemy. Just entering the D1 downhill section, he further accelerated his vehicle, sending it to fourth gear as he powered through the straightaway.

At the same time, Minako had caught sight of the strange new road racer that she had just run into. That's weird… I've never seen this car before… It looks fast…
Noticing the other car's great increase in speed, it was also clear to Minako that she had just found herself a new opponent. Fine! Let's see what you can do!
She accelerated hard, reving all the way up to 8000rpm while following the mysterious silver coupe in front of her. At the first corner, she noticed the car slow down for the turn.

Minako flung her car straight into the pin, being shown a slight gap that she could take to pass her new found opponent. Fu Huo expected Minako's attack and did almost nothing, relying on his car's boost to take him away quickly at the corner's exit.

I still have enough grip for this battle… Fu Huo relied on AYUMI to take care of the battle's conditions and concentrated on outrunning Minako. The program beeped again, and Fu Huo immediately knew that the NSX-R was about to poke its nose out to try and pass him again.

Minako predicted that her opponent would move into the direction she would try to accelerate and tapped the brakes slightly, then quickly throttled into the other direction using her vehicle's incredible responsiveness to quickly move to the other side.
The ever-powerful Skyline prototype almost literally dominated along the straightaway, as Fu Huo concentrated on higher rpms, which also gave him an advantage as his car, was also quite responsive.

Not bad…
A hard hairpin left was coming up. Knowing that her opponent would slow down before the curve, she braked at a later moment just as soon as her vehicle poked slightly ahead of the other vehicle and then stole the inside. The NSX-R gripped through the apex, while the 350GT followed almost side by side.

With the NSX-R slightly ahead of the Skyline, Minako had taken the time to observe who her opponent was. Hey… is that you Fu Huo?
She had then felt a sudden pain in her chest, though she could not comprehend on what was going on as she was busy with the battle. KYOKO gave out a little beep, as the 350GT pulled up beside her.
You're my enemy now and I will defeat you!

Ignoring her feelings in the race, Minako took advantage of the KYOKO System and continued on.
A sharp hairpin right had come along as the 350GT quickly and relentlessly stole the inside line, blocking anything that comes close to the apex and shot its way out of the exit.

It was a classic battle of the naturally aspirated versus turbo. However each other's strengths and weaknesses have been constantly exploited by their own drive systems, the two racers were now beginning to be pushed to an extent beyond their conventional limits.
The 350GT Skyline prototype continued to boast its abilities on the straight sections, while the NSX Type R totally shined through the curves.

Neither of them had any other single thought but to outrun the other. But at this point, much meaning and purpose of the battle had soon faded, as both forces of Super Dreadnaught and Zui Hou have pulled back, evaluating the results of the night's clash.

Kumiko had rolled in at the headquarters once again, having her 3000GT to join the other Generals to celebrate their victory against Super Dreadnaught's first wave. Kumiko stepped into the elevator on her way to the conference on the top floor, which is probably holding a small celebration with some expensive champagne. She felt really awkward once again, though even if Zui Hou had held back the first assault, Kumiko was how her loss would affect the group, as well as the shocking news about an old friend now considered as their enemy.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Kumiko stepped out of the lift, catching sight of her fellow comrades and a small victory party at the conference.

"That was really somethin' back there, Ling," congratulated Stephen.
"Man, I bet that Kanae girl's havin' a cry right about now!" mocked Mark.

Hyuga had stepped up and congratulated his Generals once again.
"But Ling Luan, how did you manage to do it?" he asked.
"I… had to use the system," confessed Ling.
"And you managed to handle it?" wondered Hyuga.
"Barely, but at least I was able to hold on long enough…"

"So does this mean… we take over Super Dreadnaught?" asked Mark.
"Good question,…" asked Hyuga. "Perhaps we should contact them…"

Kumiko stood away from the group, who was a little anxious whether she should go tell them what she has to say.

"Hey, what's up, Kumiko?" asked Stephen. "You look a bit out of it…"
Kumiko looked down upon herself and spoke, "Well… maybe it's just that I don't feel that we've won…"

"What makes you say that?" wondered Hyuga with a bit of a concerned look.
"Um… I lost to the leader of our enemy. I could not retrieve KYOKO's duplicate," announced Kumiko.

Everyone had suddenly begun talking amongst him or herself, chattering in shock. Voices flew across the room, most of which whom where surprised at the news they had just received. "Fukada Kumiko lost?" called out one of the office workers.

"Oh well, doesn't matter. With our victory today, we own everything now. Including their leader and their own drive system!" claimed Mark.
"I'm not so sure," said Hyuga, "Because technically, isn't the battle meant to be a draw?"

A few short moments later, the phone rang at one of the desks, and Kumiko had been the closest to it. She walked up slowly and answered the call on loudspeaker.

"Raide…" answered Kumiko.
"Good evening to you all at Zui Hou R. I, Gallard Raide of the Super Dreadnaught alliance have an important announcement on behalf of both factions in accordance to tonight's results…" said Raide over the loudspeaker.

"It is about time," said Hyuga, listening in along with the rest of the room.
The drivers grew silent, awaiting the message that the opposition was about to present them. Some were anxious, and some were hesitant. Though Raide continued on.

"We here at Super Dreadnaught would like to congratulate the winning team of Zui Hou R," he continued. The entire room at the conference saw all racers present at the celebration cheer wildly in unision. Raide continued.

"…And declare our defeat under the current circumstances and therefore surrendering our allegiance to the one Emperor Hyuga of Zui Hou R. On behalf of both Dreadnaught R and Bu Xia De, we would like to extend a proposition to accompany this allegiance and merge all three organizations into one single dominant entity,"

Hyuga had become too excited to make his own reply and ordered Kumiko to give them a position response. His followers and works cheered once again, toasting to their hardwork and a well-fought battle.

"However, there is one slight problem," cut Raide short.
"What is it?" asked Kumiko.
"We cannot fully condone or totally forward any form of surrender without our leader," explained Raide. "He has been missing ever since twenty-five to eleven tonight. We are unable to contact, nor come to close traces with him or his super vehicle,"

"Hold on," said Alex, entering the conversation, "The signals coming from each mountain route have too much interferance for the GPS to fully scan the area, however, it could surely track down the signal coming from the drive system installed in our leader's super vehicle,"

"Except…" added Raide, "…it can be easiest traced if the car had been stationary. It is very difficult for our poor standard in resources to trace any signal traveling above 120kph,"

Kumiko thought to herself once more. She thought it interesting with the fact that nobody had even mentioned or announced the true identity of the opposing leader. She kept quiet, waiting for the right moment. However, she had realized something just as she continued to overhear the conversation over the phone.
"Hold on a sec," Kumiko asked her colleagues, "Where is the Princess?"
"Yes, where is she? And KYOKO?" wondered Hyuga, who suddenly began to get a little paranoid. "Don't tell me we are both missing our flagship competitors…!"

"It seems so," guessed Raide, "We are going to need your assistance to find them both,"
"Okay… I'll see what I can do," said Hyuga.

( 'Connected (Push Remix)' – Ayumi Hamasaki)

The meaningless epic clash at Route D1 had continued, and neither driver had showed any sign of wearing down. Each of them had continued to overwhelm each other and the match seemed to be changing back and forth. Fu Huo and Minako plunged their minds onto the street and selflessly dueled without much awareness of their chances or their own physical condition. Prepared to give their own lives for such a meaningless plight, both drivers pushed their vehicles beyond their very own limits.

The two former best friends now aiming at each other as targeted enemies by their own drive systems hauled them further into the night, as the 350GT stormed in side on with the NSX-R. With outstanding mobility, they had both countered their own tactics against each other and neither of them was able to take charge.

Both drivers prepared for a set of tight S curves ahead followed by a steep right hand hairpin, which seemed tighter than it looks. Fu Huo let off the throttle briefly, as valves hissed and turning his vehicle gently into the curve without braking, using his momentum to continue to sway his car in its original direction while his wheels turned him in.

The NSX-R had done the same, though only entered at a greater speed, as the front nose almost lightly brushed past the Skyline's right door and slowly turned into the opposite direction, getting in position for the immediate right. The Fu Huo had timed his shifting perfectly, as he had also set back his car in the same direction as the NSX-R, gaining boost in order to catch it and exit at a slightly greater speed.

The hard hairpin right hander was right in their faces, Fu Huo released the throttle once more and tapped the brakes to moderate his speed to take the corner.
However, Minako continued to accelerate forward in the NSX-R, swaying right past the Skyline and almost without slowing down, sent her vehicle into a wild angular drift, almost kissing the apex.

What was that…? Fu Huo watched on, overwhelmed by the shocking display of his opponent's abilities. Am I seeing something real…?
Though he did not stop pushing with all his effort, Fu Huo soon realized that his opponent could just be possibly more than he could chew.

The two vehicles exited the sharp right, with the NSX-R's full body in front of the 350GT. Minako had now finally capitalized on one section and stole the lead.
I can't believe she did that! She actually passed me…? How could AYUMI miscalculate something like this…?
Fu Huo stuck right behind his opponent, not giving Minako even a slight breather.

A mild straightaway only fueled the two drivers to go faster. The Skyline remained closely behind.
Minako focused on forward, with perfect shift timing and double clutching. It was as if the needle on the tachometer matched each dot to the exact rpm desired as she precisely geared up.
A quick moment visualized her the next tight pin to the left.

Just as Minako had begun to prepare for the curve, she had already noticed her opponent flying past into the corner as if she was expected to try and slow down to grip into the inside.
The 350GT poked itself slightly ahead of the NSX-R, slowing down on entry.

Fu Huo clutched in, tapped his brakes, and at the same moment, shifted down right after tapping the throttle to rev the car insanely. Relying on his ABS, he tapped the clutch at the same time he tried to accelerate out of the apex into the outside line as the NSX-R had closed in. The 350GT suddenly broke rear traction, as the car began to travel at an angle, with it's rear wing almost poking out of the guardrail, and front bumper just slightly in the way of the NSX-R's, blocking and chance of Minako exiting with any greater speed. Fu Huo almost pinning her to the wall as he set his wheels back into the desired direction, using the momentum from the last turn and tailwhipped his car into the immediate opposite hairpin, executing a well performed feint.

Minako watched in shock and awe at her opponent's sudden behavior. She moved on helpessly behind the 350GT, which seemed to just out-do her in that combination of hairpins. Oh my gosh… that was… too awesome… he's almost too good!
Neither AYUMI, nor KYOKO could calculate any accurate possible outcome from the battle. The two had continued to feed their pilots with several possible tactics they could use, but each of them had their own counter-strategy to each other that never-ended and brought forth no such outcome.

The drivers had to see for themselves who would come out ahead when it is all said and done…

Back at Zui Hou headquarters, the facilities have gone quiet, as most of the block had closed for the night and most departments had locked up and lots have emptied out for the time being. Midnight had struck as a white vehicle had soon appeared along the Zui Hou R main driveway.

"Let 'em through," said Kumiko, watching on from a distance. She already knew exactly who it was and thanked that the moment had arrived no later.

The white MINE's Impreza had slowly cruised in, as the remaining overtime staff in the area had guided Maya through the lanes and assisted her through the parking lot.
Where could she be?
The exhausted and confused Maya had greeted Kumiko on her way to join the other D Unit Generals at the little reception down at the pit lane.

Rushing off to see the others, Maya had struggled to hold back her panic and asked each member individually.
"Where is my sister?" she continued, "She was supposed to come back way before this hour. We were supposed to go home now,"

"I'm sorry Maya…" apologized Kumiko, "We do not know where she is,"
"Isn't she here…?" asked Maya, "I thought this would be the only other place she would be!"

"Actually, we thought she was with you," said Ling Luan. "But then we have just received a report that she and her car were missing,"
"Where did you last see her?" asked Kumiko.

"Well… she was outside the diner before I came inside. I allowed her to go where she pleased, but she was meant to be back at around the usual time," explained Maya.
"Very strange indeed," said Ling Luan, "And we can't seem to trace any signal from KYOKO…"
"I know Minako-chan would not have any reason to leave town," guessed Kumiko.
"That's right,"

Ling took a wild guess, as he remained by his Evo, leaning on his door taking a glance at the helmet on his back seat.
"…Unless… she was racing?"
"That could be it… since they can't be traced at such great speeds due to the interference along the mountain area…" agreed Kumiko.

"Racing? Tonight? Again?" said Maya.
"Wait a minute… the signal of the 350GT was also missing…" said Ling.
"Oh my… I can't be… they are both…" shocked Kumiko.