Well here we go, the first battle on the mountains for FFF, beware the sinister mind of FFF, he's sure to have something up his sleave.

Five Fire Flame vs The Night Kids:

The Downhill FF Challenge!

"So Shingo, do you think they'll show?" One of the minor members of the Myogi Night Kids asked with excitement. Wondering whether he should dignify the question with an answer, the Myogi downhill specialist nodded the affirmative.

"Ohna Takuya is a true racer, he practices at many tracks and passes. He personally challenged me to this race; of course he'll show! Not that it'll make any difference, on Myogi, with the same class of car, there's no one that can defeat me." Shouji obviously threw this last little fact in to goad his team leader, Nakazato Takeshi, who had been defeated in uphill battles by both a Lancer Evolution and an FD. Nakazato refused to take the bait, no point in beating Shingo to death if the team then had to forfeit after all. The thought brought a smile to his face that Shingo returned for the barest of seconds. From bitter rivals to the best of friends, their day-to-day interaction had changed surprisingly little, although now friendly competition fuelled their jabs, rejoinders and races instead of wasteful pride and disdain. Perhaps he should have thought of something to say, Takeshi thought to himself. Just to keep up appearances.

"They're here!" A voice echoed through the mountain's peak.

As the sound of engines approached Takeshi got his first good look at the young team, having been too busy on Happogahara to remember anything more than the Starlet. As the Tochigi racers pulled into the parking area many sighs of envy came from the assembled gallery and even some of the younger Night Kids. Three of the four cars had carbon fibre bonnets equipped and just by the way they sat on the tarmac Nakazato could tell that they had modified their suspension components. Not only that but, although the Toyota Starlet and SW20 were common enough cars on the touge, the Altezza and ZW30 MRS were considered far too expensive for most people to afford. Were they just rich brats, or were they actually serious enough racers that they could protect their investments. Stepping out of their respective vehicles with synchronised ease and confidence, the Tochigi team made their first impression on the Night Kids.

"They look so confident, just like the RedSuns."

"Check out the girl in the ZW30, she's cute."

"Oi, isn't that the guy from Best Motoring?"

Shingo made a face, if his team members kept being intimidated by visitors, how were they ever going to compete against other teams? He was going to give a lesson in hometown confidence tonight.

"Well, you showed up, I suppose you should get extra points for that." Shingo had a talent for rubbing people the wrong way, but the FFF member, Ohna Takuya, merely smiled back at Shouji. Nakazato Takeshi had the distinct impression of a pair of hungry sharks circling each other.

"Of course I showed up Shouji, I had to be here to beat the course record didn't I?" One of Takuya's teammates, the one beside the Altezza, chuckled at the statement, but Shouji Shingo was not to be taken lightly. His EG6 SiR Civic was considered to be second only to the newer EK9 Type R Civic in the 1.6L class and the B16A was considered the ultimate power plant for that displacement. Even with a turbo, Toyota's Starlet was considered asthmatic, making it's peak power well before redline. For Takuya to take home the win it would come down to set-up, strategy and driving, with a fair amount of luck thrown in.

Well, three out of four would have to do, Takuya mused.

Showing his position as leader, Nakazato Takeshi, Myogi's Black Lightning, stepped forward.

"Since you have few members, the Night Kids will manage this race. If you would like to place your remaining drivers somewhere on the course, tell them where to wait and we can get everyone into position." Takuya nodded his head and gave a thumbs up to the driver of the blue SW20, a serious looking youth, who re-entered his car, accompanied by the laughter of the other one, the Altezza driver. Were they that confident, or was he a few pistons short of an RB26? Well whatever, Shingo wasn't the downhill specialist of the Night Kids for his good-looks and charm, two things most people thought him devoid of, after all. When all was in position, and the checkpoints had radioed back in with the all clear Nakazato stepped between the two competitors to begin the countdown.

"5 4 3 2 1 GO!"

Quickly spinning in place to see the battle of acceleration, Nakazato noted that Shingo definitely had the better traction and power from a standing start. That was good, on other courses Shingo would skulk behind the leading driver, waiting for, or causing, a mistake that would allow him to take the lead and the match. But on Myogi, with an already apparent advantage in traction, there was no point. He made the right decision, build a lead early and then concentrate on keeping it and setting a new course record. As they disappeared from sight into the first section of the course, a short uphill run, the Night Kids leader grinned. An easy win.

Behind the wheel of his EG6 Shingo was less enthusiastic than Nakazato, and much more disappointed. The exits of the EP82 were marred by oversteer and lacklustre grip, resulting in lines running wide and front tires being spun. Frankly Shingo expected more from anyone who had been a part of Best Motoring in any capacity. The thought that Takuya would come to a battle with worn or cheap tires annoyed Shingo, the only reason he had kept up at all was due to the fact that, on an uphill the Starlet's turbo gave it a distinct advantage with it's wider torque band.

That was all about to change.

Shingo could almost taste the coming change in the road from ascension and he licked his lips at the thought of the huge gap he would create when it became a steady and high-speed descent.

Inside the cabin of the EP82 Takuya smiled.

"Kai-kun?" Kogashiwa Kai turned his attention from the road, and the Night Kids standing watch on the corner before their overlooking station, to his girlfriend.

"Hmm?" With a pensive face the young woman hoped that her statement wasn't going to sound absurd to Kai and Dysuke, looking on a few feet away, cigarette between his teeth.

"You told me that the first rule of small power cars was fast cornering. That that was the only way to overtake a more powerful car… and today Takuya said that the Night Kids driver, Shingo, had a better engine than him." Kai listened on intently, everything she had said was true and Kai wanted to know what inferences Rina had made from those pieces of information. "Well, if that's all true, why are we watching on a straight? Wouldn't we want to watch the corners where Takuya will have more of an advantage?" Good, she was learning very well. With a proud smile and squeeze Kai replied.

"I don't know why we're waiting here, Dysuke led the way, but I would guess Takuya had some kind of plan to win. You see the EG6 is a better car for corners and straights on the downhill. It's wider and lighter, with a stiffer chassis, and it's NA so it has better response. But that doesn't mean Takuya has no chance of winning. His Starlet is a well-tuned car; it is just about picking the right time and making that into an opportunity to win." Unobtrusive at the rear of the group, Dysuke smiled. You have no idea Kogashiwa, you have no idea.

The first hairpin of the downhill was fast approaching. Shouji Shingo prepared to brake late and put the distance between him and Takuya that would settle the battle. Almost reacting without thought, the Myogi downhiller shifted his car into second and took the corner, evening out any understeer with his left foot tapping the brake pedal. Smiling he glanced at the rear-view mirror to gauge how much distance he had put between the two cars.

"What the hell?" Until now the EP82 had been losing ground, tires unable to grab the pavement. "What did he do?"

Takuya smiled, by now Shouji was probably hard pressed thinking of the sudden improvement in the Starlet's handling. It was simple really… tires. With the home course advantage and the better car for cornering, Takuya knew that he would have to break one of the unspoken cardinal rules of touge and fit semi-racing compound tires to keep up. Knowing that Shouji was no idiot behind the wheel of his EG6 he masked the extra grip of the new tires by not warming them before the race. Cold, they were hardly a match for Shingo's street radials, but as they ascended the uphill they warmed to optimal temperature and gave Takuya a huge advantage in traction.

The corner's swept back and forth more frequently and the headlights of the EP82 Starlet threatened to burn a hole in the EG6's paintwork. In his cabin though Shingo was still confident with his prospects, even cornering at the same speeds, the Civic could gain an advantage on the exit by having instant response to lie down as opposed to the lag of Takuya's less powerful turbo engine. There were only a couple of corner's to go anyway, and then the final corner and then…

Victory.

"They're here!"

The remaining members of Five Fire Flame ran to the guardrail to see who would lead coming out of the corner. Gripping hard to the inside Takuya's black Starlet pulled level with Shingo's Civic and looked set to overtake.

"No way! There's no way you're going to out accelerate my B16A!"

With a sudden surge the EP82 inched it's nose forward, then it's doors, until finally it had pulled a complete car length on the EG6, both at full acceleration.

"What!? No way!"

Secure in his Bride bucket seat Takuya held one hand on his steering wheel, excited by the new increased acceleration and the pinpoint overtake that had just happened. He had let go of the scramble soon, he didn't want to damage the engine or turbo, but he needed to gain enough space to set his win in stone.

"Yes!"

"How'd he do that?"

Pleased by Rina's elation, and even more so at Kai's befuddlement, Dysuke smiled like a cream-sated cat. Everything had gone exactly to plan, just like Takuya had said it would. Dysuke supposed he should let the other two members of his team in on the little secret. If only to revel in his upper hand for a little while.

"Boost Scramble."

"Huh?"

"Boost Scramble."

Nakazato Takeshi almost pulled his hair out in frustration, a new downhill record had been set, just like pre-race gossip had indicated but it hadn't been the fan favourite home team to set it. According to the last spotters Shingo had been overtaken exiting the last hairpin. Apparently the EP82 had some real power beneath the bonnet and, not only that, had kept it hidden for most of the battle. Five Fire Flame had one real smart guy there, even Takeshi could admit that. Damn it, now he'd be expected to step to the front and defend the honour of the Night Kids, maybe even on the other team's home course.

"What are we going to do Takeshi?" See, right on time. Turning to see the same new member that had earlier doubted whether or not the Tochigi team would even show up the GTR driver answered tersely.

"What do we do? Leave that to me. No one thought that the Starlet would have been so powerful, but we'll have our revenge and I'll be the one to do it."

With that Nakazato Takeshi, Black Lightning, entered the cabin of his Skyline, started it and exited the Myogi galleries.

'Don't worry Shingo, we'll have our revenge!'

"So do you want explain what a boost scramble is Dysuke-kun?" Savouring Rina's attention for a moment Dysuke gave his cigarette a casual flick over his shoulder.

"Alright, alright. You know how you can control a turbo's boost pressure with an electronic controller? Well obviously you can't put too much boost into the engine or you risk blowing your turbo, or worse, your engine. In small doses though, even a large increase in boost can be fairly safe to run and give the car a huge increase in power and acceleration. That's what Takuya used to defeat Shouji; he waited until just the right time and then scrambled his boost setting for the straightaway to overtake. Sneaky, but it won us the battle."

Rina screwed her mouth to the side, unsure of whether she liked the sneaky part of the plan, but she didn't mind winning at all. All in all, if Takuya had used his brains to set his car up for the race, then it probably wasn't much worse than knowing when to overtake.

Kai kept his silence, astounded by the level of planning Takuya had shown in defeating the Night Kids. It served to reinforce the respect Takuya had won in earlier months and warn the second-generation racer. No way were the Night Kids going to let this one go… pretty soon, Kai knew, they have a rematch against that black GTR.

Anywhere but here, Kai hoped.