Got to say sorry Vanney-chan, but Tochigi's just existing a little too harmoniously for me, this isn't Gunma after all. There has to be some strong competition between the camps or it threatens to get all hippie-commune on us. But don't worry, leave it to Five Fire Flame to spread dissent like a plague.

The Revenge of 380 Horsepower.

"Mako-chan! How nice of you to come visit your busy uncle at work! Sometimes I think that you'd have forgotten all about me, and then you make an old man pleasantly wrong."

Satou Mako smiled and embraced her uncle, although in his late forties, he neither looked nor acted like much of an old man. Luckily she had six weeks holiday from work and she was planning on spending most of it in Tochigi with her uncle and aunt, generally relaxing, and maybe even practicing on some of the local passes. It wouldn't be bad to see Sodou Kyouichi in action on his home course after the battles he had had in the past with Takahashi Ryousuke and Fujiwara Takumi. Also, she could spend time with Miyoko and the rest of the members of Evo Prime, wait, that was Emperor Prime now. But beyond those trivialities she just wanted to relax and take her mind off work.

Back in the lecture hall Satou Mako and Satou Akiyama were disturbed from their catching up by the students beginning to file in for their weekly lecture. With a rueful smile to match any hopeful truant Mako's uncle bid her farewell.

"Well darling niece, I had best get to what I am paid to do. Rina and her boyfriend Kai are no doubt waiting for you. I will see you after the lecture and you can have the house keys from me and make yourself comfortable at home, while I slave away, breaking the shackles of ignorance in these young minds."

With a last laugh, she had always enjoyed spending time with her uncle, so carefree and witty, Mako saw herself off to meet with her youngest cousin, Rina, and her new (and quite often boasted) boyfriend.

Had she waited ten minutes outside the lecture theatre, she would have bumped into Nicolas Sainz.

Had he been on time, a rare, rare, occurrence, he would have bumped in to her.

"So Kai-san, Rina tells me that you had the chance to race Fujiwara Takumi on Irohazaka, the home course of Emperor Prime." This time around, Mako was conscious of new accurate phrasing and made use of it. "I raced him once, several years ago on my home pass of Usui. It helped me to define what I wanted from racing and where I wanted to be at the end of it. Did you go through a similar thing?"

Kai hadn't heard anything about that. Rina's cousin was supposed to be the fastest racer on Usui, and to lose. Damn that Fujiwara! What a glory-hound.

"Actually no I didn't. After my defeat on Irohazaka I really didn't have the motivation to race anymore. I mean, sure I beat that half-wit Iwaki from Emperor, but I don't know, I guess losing on what was supposed to be my home course to the wind out of me. I gave up targeting Sodou Kyouichi, I stopped driving dad's car so much… really if it wasn't for Rina, I probably wouldn't have ever gotten back into racing. If anyone is responsible for me knowing what I want from the mountains, then it is her." By the time Kai had finished, Rina was positively simpering with happiness, her cheeks absolutely glowing. But Kai continued on, a little more perplexed than before.

"But you mentioned Emperor Prime before, tell me something, Sodou hasn't merged his team with someone else's has he? That's not the kind of action I'd expect from him, with that pony-tailed ogre beside him, I never thought he'd be the kind to ask for someone's help, or give someone his own."

Wondering at the antagonism in the voice of Kogashiwa towards Seiji, but knowing that he had changed a lot in the past few months Mako thought she should respond to the young Tochigi racer's barbs, even if they weren't meant for her.

"Well he has merged his team with another, in a way, but you could say that he really just brought some members home." She waited for Kai's full attention before continuing. "You see, he and Iwaki Seiji had a personal disagreement and Seiji-san agreed to leave the team. In the months that followed, he, his brother, Ieyasu Miyoko and a gaijin friend of their's, Alex, formed a new team, Evo Prime, based in the Happogahara pass. It took a long time and a car accident but they made their amends and Sodou, impressed with the group Seiji-san had fostered, agreed to merge the two into one."

Mako hoped that she had imparted some sense of the growth that kind of situation would impart but, unperturbed, Kai idly circled one of his fingers in condensation formed by his glass of Pepsi. Frowning slightly he replied.

"So this Evo Prime, it has the backing of Ieyasu's fortune and Sodou's teaching? They sound like spoiled brats to me! I mean, with that sort of combination, they'd never have to worry about maintenance costs, or the price of petrol, or even learning what techniques work in what situations, all they need to do is take their payed for cars, shut up and listen to what Sodou tells them and they'd be ready to race. They're androids, not real racers."

For some reason, the idea of a whole privately funded team really irked Kai, maybe it was the sense of tradition instilled to him by his father or maybe it was the fact that he himself actually couldn't afford to buy his dad's SW20, yet. His voice had steadily grown, if not in volume, then in passion and intensity and Mako winced that they had mismanaged their first face-to-face conversation. Luckily, showing a depth of social insight most wouldn't have thought her capable of Satou Rina leapt to the aid of both her beloved boyfriend and her older and respected cousin.

"Hey, it's one o'clock, father will probably be waiting for us and Mako-chan will want to unpack her bags before we go out tonight, and we promised to meet Takuya as well"

Kai and Mako both understood the graceful out they had just been presented with and took it, relinquishing their argument and finishing their drinks in silence. Thank god, Rina silently thought, I won't have to knock Kai on the head for being rude today. Yet.

"You have a lot of potential Sainz-kun, but you need more dedication with your work. At the moment you might be scraping by with your smarts, but natural ability will never take the place of study and hard work." Of all the days for a personal harangue, it had to be the day he had a hangover. Although Nicolas Sainz thought, with more than a touch of irony, that was becoming harder and harder to avoid lately. Ever since Usui. "Now, I could quite easily report this to the Dean, but I have something else in mind. A parol officer." That if nothing else startled the young Spaniard. A parol officer? Since when was being late a crime? "That's right, if you'll wait with me for a few minutes, I have a young niece who is actually a teacher herself. I think that it would benefit you to meet with her once or twice a week, at her ease, to discuss your progress." Nicolas would have loved to rage to Satou-san's face, but the problem was, he knew he was in the wrong here. Besides, what could a young niece do? In all actuality, she was probably around the same age as Nicolas himself; training and racing with Toyota had left him unable, until now, to attend tertiary education. As it was, he barely went to high school. "Oh, here she is now, Mako-chan, can I speak to you quickly?"

Happogahara was rarely a peaceful place after dusk, but this particular night the local racers kept well off the roads and with good reason.

"There it is!"

Surging up the incline, 380 horsepower all trained in a perfect forward movement, a black R32 GTR made it's presence blatantly know. It was here that he, Nakazato Takeshi, team leader of the Myogi Night Kids, along with his offsider Shouji Shingo had first seen that new team, Five Fire Flame. If this was their home course, then he and his GTR would defeat them on it. He had been practicing most of the night, familiarising himself with the lay of the course. It was difficult, highly technical most of the time, but Nakazato knew that if he could get the cornering right, it was a course the GTR could dominate with it's supreme acceleration and ATTESA 4WD system.

"Look at that grip driving, even when Evo Prime were here, it's completely different to their style!"

ABS pumping, disks glowing from the rock-breaking grip of the callipers, Myogi's Black Lightning took the first of the four snake hairpins. Most inexperienced racers believed that 4WD hid flaws in the technique of a racer, that it improved them beyond their normal capabilities. That was only true to a point; while your average kid would probably be better in a 4WD than an FR or FF, a real racer had to work much harder to hold a 4WD to it's limits than a respective two-wheel drive. 4WDs were notoriously quirky, they required unique throttle and brake control to turn in properly and their limits were so high, and the driver inputs needed to hold them there so precise, that it took the very top echelon of drivers to be able race them properly. But piloted by a driver like Nakazato Takeshi, who had truly mastered the 4WD R32, who was able to use his brakes and throttle to negate understeer and turn in and who had learnt the necessary accelerator techniques to compromise between acceleration and line when cornering, they were monsters. Unrestrained, unsympathetic, monsters. In the hand's of the right driver, it was all but impossible to defeat a 4WD car on the mountains with a two-wheel drive car, and Nakazato Takeshi would prove it in Tochigi!

"Come out Five Fire Flame." Takeshi played the images of the Tochigi drivers in his head, the quite one and his girlfriend and the laughing one, apparently some local drifter of note, according to the RedSuns. He had gotten a call earlier that day from Nakamura Kenta telling him all about Nobutachi Dysuke. That was the one he wanted, the one he wanted to watch disappear into his rear view mirror. No one would have reason to laugh at the Myogi Night Kids ever again!

"Grip driving will always beat drift driving!"

The brakes again clamped down as the GTR entered the last of the snake hairpins. Most people would have trouble handling such a heavy car on a mountain pass, even with the added grip of 4WD, but Takeshi managed it with seeming ease. Anyone who had seen Nakazato race either Takahashi Keisuke or Iwaki Seiji would instantly see how much the Myogi hillclimb ace had improved he had spent the better part of two years working on his accelerator technique, practicing conserving his tires and masking the overweight nature of the GTR. There could be no flaw, no weakness or purchase for someone to take advantage of. Nakazato Takeshi had truly learnt from each of his defeats.

From the battle with Fujiwara, he learnt throttle control, never again would a boost spike defeat him.

From the battle with Takahashi, he learnt pacing and conservation, never again would he be able to fall back on the excuse of worn brakes and tires.

From the battle with Iwaki, he learnt to balance the weight of his car, using the techniques the two other losses had taught him to refine, he had defeated the main weakness of the GTR.

But most importantly of all, when Iwaki had given him back his team sticker several months ago, he had relearned his fighting spirit and faith in his car. The unbeatable track legacy of Japanese Group A racing.

Nakazato Takeshi had pure faith in his R.

Five Fire Flame would be defeated and the Night Kids would be avenged.

Tochigi would witness the power of Black Lightning.

Well sports fans, it certainly appears as though Five Fire Flame has got one big black problem waiting impatiently in the wings doesn't it.

I wonder if everyone is noticing the slight tendency towards villainy that FFF are starting to display. Thoughts? Observations and feedback? I mean, when the Night Kids are defeated, considering Kai's outburst towards Miyoko, it wouldn't be inconceivable for his to challenge Evo Prime (very careful with terminology here) to a race, while avoiding the furry of Sodou.

Well one thing's for sure, Mako's had her holiday somewhat curtailed with her new duties towards our favourite GT4 driver. If everyone is expecting a lot of fluffy lovey dovey stuff between the two… you're in for a disappointment for a loooong time.

To CelicaChick: about Ryousuke, don't expect to see a great deal of him in this story. He gets mentioned mainly through his association to Kyouichi, but I'd be lying if I said that the White Comet wouldn't be appearing again. Sainz has many lessons to learn, and there are very few people able to teach him. I mean, just thinking of drivers that could even pose a challenge to him…Tomo, Sodou and Ryousuke are the only names that come up at all… unless I bring in God's Hands and God's Feet from the manga, but I'd rather not. So you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Lastly, for a good laugh I recommend BoomChish's new 'Outranking the Emperor' short, especially if you like people getting knocked off their high-horse.

Oh, just for curiosity's sake, would you guys mind telling me in your reviews who do you think would win in a battle between Emperor Prime from Follow the Leader and my own Five Fire Flame and how. The one race I don't really care about involves Sainz and Sodou, well Sainz and anybody, it's the other characters (Miyoko, Jin, Alex, Seiji and Kai, Rina, Takuya, Dysuke) that I'm interested in. I'd just like to get everyone's opinion's, your's too Vanney-chan, though you can tell me in person, since I owe you those scans of the Todou-Juku stuff for your eagerly anticipated continuation.