The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
An AcceleRacers Fanfiction
By: Wings of Speed
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Summary:
Author's Note: This has been an extremely hard chapter to write, at the moment there is about three unfinished starts on this particular chapter, and five starts to finishes that were discarded. I had a lot of problems with it because there was certain information I wanted included, it was just a problem of putting it in at the right moment and in the right way. You will more than likely be very confused by the time you read the end of this chapter. And of course, all the information I wanted included in this chapter was not put in, it just didn't fit in at the moment and will be added at later chapters.
The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
Chapter 5: Things Just Get Stranger By The Moment
Vert watched the Atomic Winds, once Trinity had calmed down and introductions had been made, things seemed to go back to what he believed was normal for his cousins and their group of racers. Trinity was under the hood of Bass Assault, a name he discovered suited the car rather well; the bass installed in the car's systems was an assault on one's hearing. In a contest of systems, he wasn't certain who would win: Trinity's Bass Assault or Shirako's Bassline. Each vehicle packed one hell of a sound system in it.
Trinity stood up, kicking at some dirt as a few rather unladylike curses flew from her mouth. Taking her cell phone from its small holster on her hip, she flipped it open and looked at the time. Vert glanced up into the sky, he figured it had to be somewhere around two or three in the morning. And he was feeling it, he was way beyond tired.
He glanced around at the rest of the figures, some where lounging around in or on their cars while others were doing the same thing as Trinity; hoods popped and heads down underneath checking cables, wiring and hoses.
There were five cars in all, not including Reverb. Courtney's car, the Toyota Supra, sat in the lead spot. There was really nothing special about the Supra, other than its paint and decal jobs, it was not as modified as Trinity's Lancer. Trinity had explained to him earlier that Court was very adamant about letting no one scratch her paint; it was rather expensive and took weeks to fix even a minor scratch. He couldn't understand why she raced the car then.
The Supra's paint job consisted of a three layer ordeal. The underlayer was what some would call a candy coat base, it surfaced in highlights beneath the second layer. The underlayer was a what Trinity had called a lime green candy coat, the layer on top of it was a Candy Apple red, with the green tinting through in the right light. The top layer was a pearlescent coat, adding an extra sheen to the car. A simple scratch required all three layers to be redone, and that's why it took weeks for it to be fixed. This led to the particular reason of why Courtney was very specific of where her car was parked and who was allowed to be near it. There would be no unwanted incidents on her watch, ever!
Decals had been added as well and they depicted a phoenix rising from flames on the side of the car. The flames started at the back of the car and the phoenix encompassed the whole side of the car, right up to where its crane-like head swept up onto the hood. Each side showed the same depiction of the phoenix. On the rear window was a decal that had Street Thunder in scripted bright red letters. On the front windshield was Atomic Winds in a strange purple with silver sparkles inlayed into the decal.
Courtney's outfit complimented her car perfectly. She wore a red jacket with a phoenix across the front of it, the legendary bird bisected by the zipper on the jacket. Beneath the jacket she wore a green t-shirt with Atomic Winds scrawled across it. She wore red slacks with twin green stripes running up the pant legs.
Next to the Supra sat Trinity's car, Bass Assault. This car brought elegance and speed together in one tight package. The original 2.0 liter inline four-cylinder DOHC intercooled-turbocharged engine had been replaced with a Rally Sport Engine, a custom job with a few added details; a Unichip Import Tuner, a blue nitrous purge-cloud illumination kit, an electronic turbo timer and a few other gadgets that Vert couldn't recall.
The car's suspension had been lowered so it sat a few scant inches off the ground, probably sucked royally when going over speed bumps, or any type of bump for that matter. Its windows were as darkly tinted as one could get. On the rear windshield was the car's name, written in bold blue letters. On the front windshield was Atomic Winds, done in the same color scheme as Courtney's Supra; but he had noticed that all five of the cars had Atomic Winds on their front windshields, all done in the same color.
The Lancer's paint was done in a two tone blue; the front half a light blue that darkened halfway back to a midnight blue. The merging from one color to the other was flawless; it was like when day turned into night. There was a silver dragon wrapping around the driver's side of the car, and on the other side of the car was a purple dragon. Behind each of the mythological beasts were strange symbols, done in the same strange purple as the Atomic Winds decals on the front windshield. The bulk of the dragons hid the hieroglyphs so Vert wasn't really certain what they were or if they were in fact symbols or words.
Trinity's outfit also complimented Bass Assault. His cousin wore a simple sleeveless jacket of dark blue with Bass Assault written in bold purple letters across the back. She had on a long sleeve shirt beneath the jacket, the same pale blue as the front end of Bass Assault. Her pants were khaki like with multiple pockets and loose fitting and dark blue like the jacket. Vert had also noticed that along the front of the sleeveless jacket were two dragons, each creeping up to wrap around the neckline. One purple and the other silver, just like on the car.
On the other side of the Lancer sat a black Dodge Neon. From the earlier introductions Vert knew the owner of this car was named Jon Ryder and he was Courtney's on again off again boyfriend. The impression he had gotten from Trinity was that she didn't like the young man very much, infact, from her attitude and facial expressions he figured she hated him.
Jon was a fairly tall young man, standing about an even six feet. His hair was dark red and his complexion was pale because of this. He had freckles across the bridge of his nose and his eyes were a very deep, dark green. Trinity had told Vert that Jon called the Neon Thunderhead, and like with the rest of the cars, the name was scribed across the rear windshield. Apparently though, the rest of the Atomic Winds had another name for the Neon, or perhaps it was really for the driver: Crash and Burn.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the Neon, at least nothing that Vert noticed right off the bat. It looked very ordinary, very stock. It was solid black with a red racing stripe that went up over the hood, over the roof and down onto the trunk. This was the only noticeable thing about the little Neon.
Apparently, neither driver nor car really stood out in a crowd. How the guy had hooked up with the Atomic Winds was beyond Vert. Courtney was the only possible answer.
On the other side of the Neon was an older model Ford Mustang. Vert figured it to be somewhere around or between a '68 or '70. The muscle car was beautiful and none of its modifications took away from its beauty, if anything they added to it. The Mustang was a nice shade of yellow, not like a bright canary yellow but a more laid back mottled yellow. Not quite pastel either. The car was called Powerdyne, and Vert figured that the name probably fit it quite well.
On both sides of the car, red and blue flames erupted from what appeared to be beneath the car, just below the doors. Then they continued on toward the back of the car, until they finally flared up over the trunk, almost seeming to engulf the whole backside of the car.
The driver's name was Leti Orimoto. She was of some Asian descent, as was apparent by her slightly slanted dark eyes. Her hair was long, to almost the middle of her back and was black with what appeared to be blue highlights. Trinity had told him that she never took her hair down; in the many years that she had known the young Asian woman she had never seen her with her hair down.
Leti, like the rest of the group, wore an outfit that matched the detailing of her car. She wore a dark yellow tank top with a baby tee beneath, on the tank top, scripted right across her chest was her car's name. Her pants were black, with a yellow stripe running up each pant leg and at the bottom on the flared boot legs were red and blue flames.. She didn't wear a jacket though, she often complained about it being to hot to do so and was often heard saying that just looking at her teammates made her overheated.
Then situated behind all the cars was a newer model Honda Civic. The car was red and the owner, Mikey Douglas, called it Omega One. There was a picture of a pool stick and a cue ball on the sides of the car and on the hood was a depiction of racked pool balls, in a perfect triangle.
Mikey was of obvious Latino descent, though there was some Caucasian mixed in there somewhere. His eyes were a deep dark shade of brown, like well aged whiskey and his hair was also a dark brown, almost appearing black. He was probably about the same height as Vert, maybe a little taller. His outfit consisted of red and black. He had on a light red jacket with a lighter shade of red t-shirt on beneath. His pants were black and on the ass was a picture of a cue ball.
"You gonna stand there staring at everyone or what?" Courtney asked as she walked up behind him. Last time he had known she was playing with some of the settings on her system, she hadn't liked the way the bass and treble had been harmonizing.
"I was just thinking," he answered as he turned around to face her. "Reminds me of my friends and our cars. I seriously need to get back." He looked off into the distance, wondering exactly what his friends were doing. Did they even know what had happened yet or were they all still in the dark about everything? The only way he would find out is to get back to them.
"How did you manage to get here in the first place? Seems a bit off the beaten path. We don't see much in the way of action here; we normally gotta run to one of the nearby cities to find any competent competition." Courtney said as she regarded him with earnest curiosity. "Most of the other groups around here don't have the horsepower to back their boasting. They're not even worth our time and they know it."
"It's a long story, let's just say I took a wrong turn on our way back from a competition." Vert answered, he felt uncomfortable lying to his own cousin, but it couldn't be helped. He couldn't really reveal the truth of the matter to her, he didn't have a clue how she'd take it. More than likely she'd think he was nuts. Insane Asylum would most likely be her next thought.
"Shoulda had a GPS system installed. Trinity made us all get one for our cars, just in case something like that were to happen." Courtney smiled at him, apparently finding his current predicament rather funny. "Any of them got a cell you can call? Everyone now a days carries a cell." She said this as if it were the truth of the matter. Come to think of it, he had seen each one of the Atomic Winds with a cell phone out at some point in time. In fact, he'd seen Trinity have hers out quite a few times, the light of the moon glinting off of the small silver device.
"Yeah, one of my teammates does," Vert answered. "The only problem is I don't have one with me so him having one don't do me much good." He glanced around once more, taking in his surroundings. The guardrails sitting behind the cars, the steep cliff face on the other side of the road. It reminded him of the Coast Road where the second leg of his adventure had first begun; it seemed so long ago now when he thought about it.
Off in the distance, beyond the river that raged far below the guardrails, he could see the red lights of a cellular tower blinking. There were the lights of houses in the distance as well, and if he looked close enough, once in a while he could discern the headlights of vehicles as they passed on roads that were hidden in the dark. They were far out in the country somewhere, far from the nearest city; about an hour or two, he figured.
"You know your buddy's number?" Courtney questioned, drawing his attention back to her and away from the lights in the distance.
"Shirako's? Yeah, sure, I know it," he answered. He looked at her, giving her a confused expression. "I don't see what good-" he started, just as she threw her own cell phone at him.
"Here, use mine," she said as she turned back to take a detailed look over her car's paint. This was common with her, from what he understood. Trinity had explained that Courtney spent a good three to four hours a day just looking over the paint coat on the car, making certain there were no unwanted scratches or dings.
Vert shook his head as he opened the small flip phone; it was probably one of the tiniest he had ever seen and silver and purple just like Trinity's. He could close the palm of his hand around it and still have room for another. There was the sound of gunning engines and as he looked at the small phone he noticed that the word Thunder was working its way across the screen. Interesting, he thought as he glanced up at his cousin; she was still inspecting Street Thunder.
The phone gave out a weird beep and as he looked down at its screen, he noticed it was flashing a low battery message at him. "Um, Court," he said as he walked up behind his cousin. She was bent low next to her Supra, her hand running over an area on the lower part of the driver's door.
She glanced up from her inspection of Street Thunder, "Yeah?" She questioned.
"Your phone's about to go dead," he answered, handing her the phone with it still flipped open.
She glanced at the screen momentarily and smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that. I forgot to put in on the charger the other night and the charger for the car isn't working at the moment. Mom's dog got a hold of it when I was taking her to the vet a couple of days ago, just haven't gotten around to replacing it yet." She glanced over to where Trinity was standing, her head still below the Lancer's hood, her stance giving the impression she wasn't to happy about something.
"See if Trin will let you use hers," Courtney suggested. "If she seems in a really bad mood, don't ask her, she'll be on and off of it for the next hour as she tries to locate one of our contacts for parts. In that case, see if Leti will let you use hers, she's usually pretty ok with things like this."
Vert nodded his head and started off in the direction of where Trinity now was. She had moved away from Bass Assault and was now talking with Mikey next to Omega One. Her expression was one of total and complete irritation. The Lancer's hood was still popped and there were a few hoses disconnected he noticed as he walked past the two tone blue car.
"Hey Trin," he greeted as he walked up to his cousin and her friend. "Mikey," he nodded his head toward the other young man.
Mikey nodded his head back then turned his attention back to Trinity. "It might have shorted the Unichip," he was saying, his dark eyes closing a moment in thought. "Some of the vapors from the ruptured hose might have condensed on the Unichip and shorted it out. That's going to be a nice repair, but it shouldn't take to long, an hour the most would be my guess."
"Yeah, an hour if I could get a hold of someone at the garage, but Carl's not even answering his home phone," Trinity complained as her hand squeezed the small phone she was holding in her grasp. "I'll see if I can get a hold of someone from Moon's garage, they're usually a bit more reliable on these types of things." Then she glanced at where Vert was still standing, watching the both of them patiently. "What's up Vert?" She asked. "You need something?"
"Yeah, I was gonna see if I could use your phone for a few minutes, but if you're gonna be needing it I'll see if Leti will let me use hers." He answered.
She glanced at him with interest, "And just who're you gonna call this early in the morning, most sensible people are in bed."
He smiled at her slight barb, "One of my teammates so they know what happened to me. He's the only one who's got a cell on our team," his grin turned a little embarrassed, "or I guess I should say he's the only one who remembers to carry their cell with them. The rest of us always seem to forget them at home." He glanced up at the darkenrd sky then looked back down at her. "They're a nuisance when you're in the middle of a race. Nothing like having it go off, and startling you when you're going around a nice turn."
She smiled at him, knowing exactly what he meant. "Yeah, I know that feeling, that's why I usually put mine on vibrate during races, then I don't hafta worry 'bout that happening." She looked over toward Leti and her yellow Mustang. "Leti shouldn't have problem with you using her cell, if she does just tell her I told ya to ask. Tell her I'm trying to get a hold of one of the garages, she'll understand."
Again, Vert nodded his head and started off in the direction of the yellow Mustang, sitting at the end position of the five cars. Leti was in her car, but she wasn't sitting in it; instead she was partially draped over the driver's seat while looking underneath the dashboard. Her feet were hanging out of the car, digging small ruts into the dirt and gravel as she constantly repositioned herself in an attempt to get a better view of whatever it was she was looking at.
He put a hand up on the roof of the car and softly spoke her name, not wanting to startle the young woman. "Leti, Trinity said I should ask you if I could use your cell phone, she's busy trying to get a hold of a garage."
Leti poked her dark head out from beneath the dash of the car, her Asian face smeared with grease and dust. She sat up on the seat and dusted her hands off on her black pants. Vert noticed that the stripe he had thought was a single yellow one was in fact three stripes; two yellow ones with a thin red stripe running between them.
Her dark eyes turned up to regard him, then a moment later she turned around to pick something up from off of the passenger seat. She threw a yellow phone with red and blue flames on it at him. "Here ya go," she said softly. "It could take half an hour or more before she finally reaches someone at any of the garages." The corners of her lips were turned up slightly and a mischievous sparkle appeared in her eyes, almost as if this were common occurrence and happened all the time.
"Thanks," he said as he looked at the small phone than glanced at her car. The phone went along with the paint scheme and detailing of the Mustang. He had noticed that Trinity's phone was silver and purple and so was Courtney's; they didn't really go with the schemes of the cars; well, Trinity's could since the dragons on her car were silver and purple. He shook his head, it wasn't really anything of importance, maybe they just liked the silver and purple of the phones better or it could be that trying to get dragons and a phoenix on a phone was a bit more difficult then flames.
He flipped the yellow phone open and quickly punched in the series of numbers he would be calling. Then he hit the send button and waited for the ringing that would tell him the call was going through.
After a couple of rings a familiar voice answered, "Yo Leti, I'm kinda busy so this had better be important."
Vert blinked his eyes a couple of times, taken aback by the strange way Shirako had answered his phone. This definitely wasn't the greeting he had been expecting, definitely not at all. He didn't answer, not sure how to respond.
"Leti?" He heard Shirako question. "Orimoto, I said I was busy so unless you got somethin' to say, I'm gonna hang up. I don't have time to play games on the phone right now."
"Shirako?" He had finally managed to find his voice.
This time there was a pause from the other end and Vert also noticed that Leti was looking at him with a questioning look. Her dark eyes were looking at him with speculation and interest as well as confusion.
"Vert?" he finally heard Shirako ask, his voice full of confusion.
Vert continued to stare at Leti as her dark eyes continued to drill into his; her gaze showing her utmost confusion. She wasn't the only one who was confused at the moment.
Well finally, I finally managed to get this chapter complete, and while I'm not 100 happy with the turnout, it'll work. Questions? Feel free to leave them in a review and if I'm able to give an answer without revealing too much, I'll try to give you one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though I didn't have much enjoyment writing it, it was being a PITA. Finally though, it is done.
Now be a good reader and leave me a review and let me know what you think. Thanks a million for those who have read and have reviewed. I greatly appreciate it, more than words could ever hope to express.
Now onto the shout outs…
MoonRavenX: I'm glad you like the story even though at the moment it's being a really huge pain in my head and causing one heck of a headache. I have one question for you, I noticed that your story is no longer posted, did you remove it or was it removed by the powers that be? I hadn't gotten the chance to really read it, I think I'd glanced over it quickly but my time's been limited at the moment.
Southernlady: Glad you think it's getting good now, it's going to slow down slightly and might become slightly less interesting in the next couple chapters as I gear it up and prepare for all the drama and betrayal that are slowly coming into being. The three Silencerz agents, and yes I said three, are soon to make their appearance and attempt their latest bid to win Vert over to the Silencerz team.
Dark672: glad you still think it's good, hopefully you'll still think so once things start to slow down for a bit.
KawaiiYamato: Glad you liked the previous chapter though I still think it was one of my worse ones but I needed a filler chapter and it just seemed to keep beating on my poor head till it was written. And yes, I like the word obsessed as well, lol. Well, I have honestly got to say killing Shirako is not on my agenda, though it may be on Trinity's. Glad to know you have no intentions of killing him either, or at least I hope that's what you're saying…I'm just going to send a lot of mayhem and destruction his way but in the end it'll all work itself out. Hope you liked this chapter, I send it to you to look over but never heard anything from you so I wasn't sure if you got it or it was because of having to use the library computers. Hope things get better with the whole computer issue, I know it's not fun not having one at your beck and call.
KTezla: I have honestly got to tell you that yours is one of the reviews I look forward to, as well as a few others. I'm glad the previous chapter cracked you up, it had me laughing at a few parts as I was writing them and the whole conflict scene between Karma and Wylde had to be one of my favorites. I see those two going at it a few more times before this story is over with. It doesn't bother me if you want to comment on any of the other shout outs, it's quite all right with me. It just proves you're reading everything, even down to the shout outs, lol. And just who are you obsessed with? I'd love to know! Awesome? Wow, never thought that that word would be ascribed to my story, thank you a million. As long as you keep reviewing you don't have to worry, I will most definitely keep writing.
Dragoneian: I have got to tell you that that is one interesting name, I like it. It's got dragon in it and I absolutely adore them. Glad you liked the story and hopefully you like this chapter as well.