Defeating Project D

by CMDR-Sweeper

Project D is about to finish up their runs and have won all battles up til now.But in the background of all the previous battles a man has been observing them.He is their next opponent and has allready hatched a plan on how to defeat Project D.

5. The professional shows up

CHAPTER 5: The professional shows up.

Ryo looked over the 86 that was when he heard the rotary sound.

Around the corner Sweeper's FD came, it parked at the parking lot next to Ryo and Sweeper got out and approached Ryo.

Sweeper: "So, how did the race go?"

Ryo: "I lost… I don't know how but my GT300 car lost to an AE86!"

Sweeper: "Interesting, I wish I was here to look at the battle, would been interesting to see why he was so fast."

Ryo: "Are you going to go all out?"

Sweeper: "As all out as I need to go, but I doubt he has gotten better."

They waited for a while and the vans and a yellow FD came down the hill.

The FD went to the end of the short straight and turned around the FD to prepare for the uphill.

Sweeper: "Well I guess I got to get ready."

Keisuke remained in his RX-7 awaiting the uphill driver.

The shock came when he looked out the passenger side window and saw the blue FD pull up to the starting line.

Sweeper saw Keisuke and got out of his FD, Keisuke did the same.

Keisuke: "So you were the one that passed me while I was practicing the uphill?"

Sweeper: "If you are hinting at seeing an innocent blue mica FD I guess that would be me yes."

Keisuke: "That FD of yours… What the hell is it really? What have you done to it?"

Sweeper: "Quite a bit, but it is still a 98 RX-7 Type RS, though you may find that hard to believe."

Ryosuke called Keisuke over to the van and Sweeper just grinned as he got back in the FD.

Several more cars came down the hill and went into the parking lot.

They all went disappointed towards Ryo, knowing he had lost the downhill battle.

Akira: "I don't like saying this Ryo, but it is all up to the Gaijin right now, and I don't like it one bit!

If you had at least won…"

Miki: "If he had pushed harder he wouldn't be standing here now.

That 86 is damn fast."

Over at the Project D van, Ryosuke was talking to Keisuke.

Ryosuke: "I didn't think they would bring out that guy to do the uphill."

Keisuke: "Who is he?"

Ryosuke: "His name is Sweeper; he is the current leader of the World Cup series.

Take my word for it I don't think you can beat him."

Keisuke: "What's the World Cup?"

Ryosuke: "It is like pro racing for street racers, they gather all over the globe, Norway, Moscow, USA, Japan, Brazil and such known places where there are challenging courses.

There are several leagues you can enter, Sweeper is in the highest class battling it out with 1500 HP cars.

Often they hold class free races where all can participate, but it is rare that you do not see Sweeper on 1st place.

He is reckless, and he doesn't mind taking chances and he is also good at pushing hard.

I can't tell you any of his weaknesses because I haven't raced him."

Keisuke: "So he is tough eh?"

Fumihiro: "Yes Keisuke, you cannot get any worse opponent than somebody from the World Cup series.

I thought the pro racer they brought out earlier was going to be the worst in skill but when it comes to street professionals you cannot ignore the World Class drivers.

In a street race, no pro has a chance of beating a World Cup driver."

Ryosuke: "Fumihiro is right, Sweeper's strength from what I have heard is tire management, and he can manage the grip of tires to their full limit when it comes to cornering and braking.

That and chasing, Carlos hasn't won a single race when he was leading on Sweeper."

Keisuke: "So you want me to give up?"

Ryosuke: "No, but do not push too hard to keep up with him, if you do, you might get killed and I do not want that to happen against an opponent like that.

Even though you are fairly skilled, this guy is the true FD specialist and he has skills you have yet to learn, though at least try to learn something from him as you drive, that way it will not be a total defeat for you Keisuke."

Keisuke walked back towards his FD and he shook his head as he looked at Sweeper who was sitting on the hood of his FD.

Keisuke: "World Cup driver eh?"

Sweeper: "That's what they say about me."

Keisuke: "Well, I am going to go all out on you this time, I will not lose to the same person TWICE!"

Sweeper: "I really hope so, last time I got kinda bored." Sweeper laughed and got into his car.

Keisuke thought to himself.

"There is no way I am going to lose to a Gaijin."

Then he got into his FD and strapped himself in.

Ryo approached Sweeper, and Sweeper lowered the window.

Ryo: "Well what's your plan? Do you have one?"

Sweeper: "Well, I am going to remain behind and observe until we reach the hairpins, just like I did last time.

I want to see if he has improved, and see if he can stop me from passing him there and observe his speed through them.

But no matter where I do it, the results will be the same."

Ryo: "I guess there is no use telling a maniac like you to take it easy?"

Sweeper just grinned back at Ryo.

Ryo: "I thought so."

Ryo went back to his car in anticipation of the race.

Fumihiro got in between the cars to prepare the countdown.

CHAPTER 6: A pro shows his true skills

Fumihiro: "Ok, 5 seconds till start."

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"GO!"

Sweeper was a bit laidback on the start and let Keisuke take the lead while he followed.

Sweeper: "Now let's see if you have improved on the last few hours since you first saw me."

The low speed corners were a bit tough on them both but Sweeper managed to keep his distance to Keisuke.

There wasn't much of challenge for Sweeper, as he was used to low speed corners from his racing.

Back in Keisuke's car he didn't like what he saw.

Keisuke: "Damn, I can't broaden the distance between our cars, no matter how much I try.

I guess he is the true FD specialist."

Sweeper kept driving in the same stance Takumi did when he was delivering tofu, one hand supporting the head and the other on the wheel.

Seeing as Sweeper had mastered the principle of weight shifting he was able to turn the car without relying on the steering wheel alone.

A teaching that comes from Gum tape deathmatch normally, but Sweeper had learned it on his own, seeking the fastest drifting technique possible.

On the long straightaway after the low speed section it was easy keeping up with Keisuke.

Sweeper rode up on his side and waved at him once before Sweeper let off and fell behind him again.

Keisuke started bracing himself; he knew that the so called dangerous hairpins were ahead.

The hairpins that were said to have killed many drivers due to the optic illusion.

Ryo had mastered them, but even he had felt the fear of the hairpin corners.

Keisuke: "This time I can't let you use the same trick on me, I will definitely block you!"

Keisuke chose a line that blocked Sweeper's last line through the corner; he did his best to get through at the same line that Sweeper took.

Sweeper: "Impressive Keisuke, you learned after seeing me do it just once.

I got to commend you for that, and the bumps that exists in the corner, you know how to control the gas pedal well, but not well enough.

You are slightly slower in cornering speed since you waste a bit of the rear tires grip on slight wheel spin.

But even so, that move won't save you Takahashi Keisuke! I will just finish it a little bit later than what I hoped for.

The result will still be the same."

Sweeper floored it at the exit and kept the same distance to Keisuke's tail.

Keisuke: "He hesitated a bit at catching up from that corner, was I faster than him or was he just enjoying himself?

I can't tell, but nor can I spend time wondering about that."

Sweeper: "Well, on the next corner, it is time to end this.

You cannot escape my counter attack!"

Sweeper had so far been using only a small portion of the power available, from here on out it was about time to take the car to its full potential and end the battle and Project D in a blink of an eye.

After all he was so many leagues over Project D that if he kept on staying behind for much longer, the guys that he normally raced would have laughed of him.

Sweeper: "And I can't have anything like that happening!"

Sweeper got out of the hairpins and stepped on the clutch to shift up a gear and engage the AWD system.

The moment he released the clutch Sweeper went full throttle.

The engine quickly revved past 7000 and the exhaust note changed.

It changed from a regular rotary sound to a chainsaw like sound, it was loud as hell and for Keisuke it felt like he was being chased by a demon, a very noisy demon.

Sweeper used the Power FC module to set the rev limiter higher, fully aware that he was going to have to do a rebuild of the engine shortly afterwards.

The weak point with a rotary, they are too efficient at making power from low displacement so they do not last long, but for the benefits they provide, that's not a hard compromise to make.

The front tires dragged the RX-7 along and the rear pushed.

Its acceleration was tremendous, Sweeper quickly got up on Keisuke's side in preparation for the upcoming braking contest.

Keisuke had taken the inside and began slamming on the brakes at the same time that Sweeper did.

Sweeper braked earlier than usual on purpose instead of using trail braking and snapping the lead in front of Keisuke.

But the reason for Sweeper being so laid back was the upcoming straightaway prior to the last 2 corners, the car with the most power should use as much space as possible for acceleration when there is a straightaway.

Sweeper: "That was a lesson I had to learn the hard way in a race, but once you get a hang of it you can drive even faster!"

Keisuke felt sure he was faster out of the corner when he saw the blue FD blow past him at an amazing speed.

Keisuke: "If I didn't know FD's came without 4WD I would say that the blue FD had some sort of AWD system.

Its acceleration is simply unbelievable."

But it was over for Keisuke, Sweeper was running at his limit using engine braking and his own designed AWD system to simply dust Keisuke.

There was no way he could keep up; he was too short of power.

By the time Keisuke was braking from the straightaway Sweeper was on the way into the last corner.

Keisuke: "Just how much horsepower is that monster making?"

Sweeper got to the top of the mountain and was quickly declared the winner.

He stepped out of the car and waited for Keisuke who came around the corner.

Keisuke stopped next to Sweeper and got out of the car and turned towards Sweeper.

Keisuke: "Tell me Sweeper, what have you done to that car? Your acceleration was too great to be FR!"

Sweeper: "You noticed eh? Well telling you the truth, it is not just FR, I have an AWD system that allows me to both use FR and 4WD as it suits me.

It is a superb system."

Keisuke: "But why did you hang back the entire race then?"

Sweeper: "Out of curiosity I wanted to see with my own eyes why they call you the FD specialist, though after the hairpin for my honours sake I had to outrun you."

Keisuke: "So it all was just a play for you then?"

Sweeper: "Yeah somewhat, it was a good match though.

But if you really feel like getting back at me, continue practicing hard and challenge me in the World Cup."

Keisuke got silent and kept looking over Sweeper's '98 Type RS, it was a demon.

The blue lightning would be a suiting nickname for it.

But yet again, Sweeper had swapped it for a better car, which only meant that the boys up in the World Cup series were tough.

Minutes went by and the teams got up to see the final results for themselves.

They found Keisuke looking down on the tarmac and Sweeper sitting on the hood of his FD enjoying the air.

Ryo got out of his Garaiya and approached Sweeper.

Ryo: "So… Is there any use to ask how it went?"

Sweeper: "Just as I predicted, but he had improved though."

Akira walked over to Sweeper.

Akira: "So did you get defeated?"

Keisuke: "He may be a Gaijin but I lost to him, and badly as well.

Though I learned quite a bit from the match, one topic I should continue working on."

Sweeper: "Just what I hoped he would get out from this match.

After all he is a FD driver, they learn from their defeats, though I just hope he will challenge me to a rematch in the World Cup some day."

Seji: "So what are you going to do now?"

Sweeper: "Well I am heading back to the hotel for a boring week of lecturing on security before I head back home to Turkey.

By the way Ryo, you mind if we meet up some other time as well?"

Ryo: "Not at all, besides I had your money transferred to the account as thanks for your help."

Sweeper: "Not a problem Ryo, anytime I am around and you need a driver, you know who to call."

Ryo: "I guess so."

Sweeper got into his FD and lowered the window.

Sweeper: "I got to head out now, get some sleep for tomorrow's lectures.

Be seeing you later Ryo, oh and Takahashi Keisuke, thanks for the race.

Now go and improve your techniques, you know what you have to work on; here is my cell phone number.

Call me if you need any hints and tips I will try to help you as best as I can."

Sweeper handed Keisuke a card before he closed the window and drove off.

The blue FD disappeared around the corner.

Keisuke walked over to Ryosuke.

Ryosuke seemed to have quite a relief expression on his face.

Ryosuke: "You made it up in one piece, what was that card about?"

Keisuke: "He actually said he would help me improve for some reason."

Ryosuke: "Ah, he probably liked you as a fellow FD driver, and he saw your weaknesses when he was driving behind you.

I guess he will be kind to give you the tips you need.

Besides, he really wants to race you as an equal in the World Cup I guess."

Keisuke: "I am not so sure I want to head out and try the World Cup just yet."

Ryosuke: "Well, you will have to chose one out of two ways when you want to become a pro, either the street pro's or the track racing pro's.

I decided to chose neither, just don't do that Keisuke."

Ryosuke walked away and Ryo approached Keisuke.

Ryo: "The man got a point, but to participate in the World Cup you would need guts and madness.

Just as much as that 86 driver of yours got, I had the chance to join once but I got a bit scared you can say."

Keisuke: "Scared?"

Ryo: "Yeah, the tracks they challenge, the way the pro's takes the corners.

They will scare you to death nearly, Sweeper is probably the worst one to ride with on those courses, and I have ridden with him in his car and tell you what.

I nearly fainted while I was in the passenger seat, he is that crazy and yet again he got the guts to ask: You caught flu or something? That is those guys in a nutshell for you."

Ryo left Keisuke pondering on the whole World Cup part.

Ryo knew that Sweeper had indeed put a scare in Project D, not only had he ended their record as undefeated but he also decided to teach away few techniques.

Ryo got into GT300 Garaiya and laughed to himself as he started the engine.

Ryo: "Sweeper… you are indeed special like they all said, I guess most of the rumours I have heard around you are true after all."

Ryo drove off, closely followed by the rest of the team.

This night was special, there was a cloudless sky and the stars where shining.

Though that night would most likely get burned into Keisuke's body, because he had lost a battle for the first time in Project D.

The Project D's onslaught had been stopped, by one man in his FD, a man that would continue to shake Japan up.

But that was something he wasn't aware of at this time, all he thought of was getting back home and get some rest and prepare for the next World Cup race that was coming up.

THE END