Chapter 13: Revenge over Keisuke unveiled.

The expedition team had arrived at the next mountain pass to conquer, it was Friday night.
However this time, Sweeper was already familiar with the pass, after all he had defeated Takahashi Keisuke on this course.
As he got out of the bus he wasn't really up to the race for tonight.
That was when he noticed the black Toyota Altezza and its driver.
The driver came over to Sweeper and saw that he was under the weather.

"Hello there old pal" The Altezza driver said.

"Hello Ryo, I wasn't really prepared for it to go this way you know. I am sorry it turned out this way." Sweeper said.

"Don't worry about it, even if you guys beat us it will be a good thing if it can help getting Project D. But even so, we will give it all we got." Ryo replied.

"Thanks, but I still feel like I am betraying old comrades of mine." Sweeper said.

"Wipe that sadness off your face; don't let Akira see you like that. Or else he will have a field day with you." Ryo said and smiled.

"Whatever he says, I will just beat his pants off!" Carlos said as he came off the bus.

"We will talk later or battle each other, right now I got a few matters to attend to, if you would excuse me." Ryo said and left as Keiichi and Jane came off the bus.

"This is going to be a problem." Keiichi said.

"Definitely a problem Keiichi, well simulation wise anyways." Jane replied.

"What is the problem here?" Sweeper asked.

"We got no simulations for the uphill battle." Jane said.

"Correction, we got the simulations, but the ones we got are useless. Unless they have a clone of you that drives the exact same FD and uses the exact same techniques!" Keiichi said.

"How are you lining up the battles for tonight?" Sweeper asked.

"You are going downhill against that Garaiya. We ain't sure on the uphill just yet, since we do not know the opponent…" Jane was silenced by an Impreza driver that came walking over.

"I will be driving against your uphill ace." The driver said.

"Not that guy…" Sweeper said with an annoyed face.

"I will DEFINITELY not lose to some Gaijin." The guy said.

"That is Akira, the worst Gaijin hater I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And to be honest, he annoys me." Sweeper said.

"You just got lucky the last time you raced here. However I will prove that neither of you got a chance against my 450 HP Subaru Impreza Version 3! I will definitely beat you all!" Akira shouted out and walked back towards his car.

"Well there you have it, his car and type. Just don't forget to add "Overconfident" to the simulations as well." Sweeper said.

"You bet. We are going with McClintock tonight for the uphill battle. After all his R34 is going to out response and out traction the poor Impreza." Jane said.

"That is a good strategy too; they probably expect us to bring the most powerful weaponry for the uphill as well which is Carlos' R34." Keiichi said.

Just then two cars came rolling into the parking lot; Sweeper quickly noticed which cars it was.
It was 2 RX-7's, a FC and a FD, white FC and yellow FD.
The drivers stepped out of their cars and approached the band that had gathered outside the bus.

"Hello there, I am the leader of Project D from Gunma. I hear you guys are the Project S team?" Ryosuke asked.

"Yes we are Project S." Keiichi replied.

"You guys sure have a nice setup here, but may I ask why you guys are following in our footsteps?" Ryosuke asked Keiichi.

"Short answer is that we are looking forward to challenging you guys." Keiichi said, just as Keiichi had said that Jane whispered in his left ear.

"Keiichi, that was a bad move, now they will see our setup and that isn't really advantageous is it?" Jane asked.

"Sounds interesting, I have been observing your progress so far, and I must say I am greatly impressed with the drivers you got here. Not to mention the quality of the machines you race." Ryosuke commented as he looked around and at the 4 cars that had been unloaded and were parked on a line.

"Did you come all of this way just to praise us like that?" Jane asked.

"No, I will get right to the point, how does it sound with a battle 3 weeks from now?" Ryosuke said while smiling.

"Sounds ok to me so far, hey Carlos and Sweeper, you guys have any extra plans that will draw any weeks?" Keiichi asked.

"We have a few plans, but those we take care of during weekdays, no weekends so it should be allright." Carlos replied.

Keisuke walked up towards Sweeper standing next to Carlos.

"So here we meet again, at the same course that I first met you." Keisuke said to Sweeper.

"Yeah, fate is weird sometimes, but fate can be even more twisted than that when it comes to mistakes catching up to you." Sweeper said.

"Oh that, I would like you to tell me what you mean by that, you have already beaten me." Keisuke said.

"I was planning to tell you in 4 weeks, but it is better that you get to know it right now. If you are much of a man you will accept a bet!" Sweeper started with a grin on his face.

Keisuke stood there thinking for a while, Ryosuke and Keiichi had stopped talking when they heard Sweeper mention betting and were listening.
As Keisuke looked at the blue FD in the lot behind the bus and the 18 wheeler he reached his decision.

"Ok, it is a deal. What is the bet?" Keisuke asked.

"Simple! If you lose the battle you will have to take Kyoko as your girlfriend with all the costs that comes with the territory!" Sweeper said while smiling of revenge.

"WHAT?" Keisuke asked rather shocked.

"However, if you win the battle… Well…" Sweeper swallowed for a moment before he continued. "You will get a brand new FD to own and drive, my '98 Type RS with all the modifications and high tech installations. It will be a dream machine for you." Sweeper said.

"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" Carlos bursted out. "Your FD is legendary, in the hands of that annoying brat!" Carlos got angry.

"It is ok Carlos, so, is there enough man in Takahashi Keisuke to accept this little bet or do you really suck as everyone says about you?" Sweeper asked.

"YOU ARE ON! If it is on Akagi you better let your FD be in tip top shape, because I will most likely be taking it home." Keisuke said.

Keisuke and Ryosuke walked away from the Project S group, back in the group the rest flocked around Sweeper.

"What the hell are you thinking Sweeper? It is on his home course and you put your FD up for grabs if he wins! Aren't you afraid of losing it?" Jane asked.

"I have been thinking for a while and the FD I got isn't very well suited for the regular street driving, like getting in and out of town." Sweeper said.

"Rethink that again Sweeper, it is your racing machine, you cannot just lose it." Carlos said.

"I can do that Carlos, there is a few things I will tell you guys later…" Sweeper began saying.

"No way, you say it right here and right now!" McClintock said while grabbing Sweeper's right arm.

"You really want to know don't you? Well I will tell you what it is if you are so desperate to know it. I am planning on quitting racing, both World Cup, street and mountain pass racing. It is about time for me to retire." Sweeper said with some sorrow in his voice.

"RETIRE? Hell no, why the hell do you want to retire?" Carlos asked curiously

"Look in my history in the last few years of the World Cup and our private challenges Carlos. I have been on a long winning streak that has yet to end and I am tired. I have reached the top level of driving. Besides the battle on Akagi will be the final battle of them all so if I lose my FD it doesn't matter since I am retiring once this project is over." Sweeper replied to Carlos.

"Even so that FD is all that you have cared for, you cannot just let it go like that. Your relationship to that car is like it was your girlfriend for Christ's sake." McClintock said with some desperation.

"Put it like this, if Keisuke can win that battle that is coming his way, that means he is good enough to participate in the World Cup's higher classes and not the beginners league. But to participate he will need a machine that can handle the insane pressure and handle on demand. And that is my FD, it is better that it continues its life in what I made it for rather than some airhead of a ricer gets his hands on it and uses it for ricer street racing." Sweeper said with a determined voice.

"I guess nothing can change your mind, now can it?" Chang asked.

"Yes, you are correct. But since this is going to be our last few races together I will not hold back anything. When I am retired I want to look back upon this without any signs of regret."

"With my rival retiring from the World Cup there won't be much for me to do there either. I think I'll retire as well." Carlos said while throwing a quick look at his black R34 before he continued "But then again I cannot retire completely, I will still race on the streets of Brazil, I have come too far to just park my R34."

"Let us just get ready for upcoming race and we can take the other affairs afterwards. After all, I do not like this battle at all, but I have to do it anyways."

"It may not be up to you in the end though." Chang said and pointed up at the sky.

"Yeah, if it begins to rain, that will change all of it."

Sweeper knew that if it started to rain, it wouldn't be him that was going out in the wet, even though he could do it, there was someone that was better than him in that aspect if he got serious.
And that was Chang or "Chinese Dragon" as they called him, him and his NSX were the perfect rain team, after all Chang was used to the rain after countless of practice hours.
After all, when you drive a high power turbo MR car in the rain, you are bound to see a tail out situation or two.
Chang who sure didn't drive slowly in the rain had encountered a lot of oversteer, and had then turned it into his greatest ally in the rain.
He knew how to prevent them and how to make them work in his favour.

"Retirement or whatever, you guys still got practice to do, so get right on it." Keiichi shouted out.

The drivers turned around and got into their cars and sped off onto the course.
Keiichi turned back to Jane.

"It is fortunate that it begins to rain, I don't think Sweeper is up for racing an old friend of him like this. After all he saved their glory against Project D; thanks to him their team only got a tie but no loss." Keiichi said.

"You are right, but that kind of attitude comes from what he does and what Ryo did for a living. Carlos, Chang or McClintock wouldn't feel bad in doing it like this, however they haven't seen the horrors of betrayal on the battlefield like Sweeper has. Having battlefield experience helps both positively and negatively on being a race driver." Jane replied.

"We sure cannot lose if Chang drives like he did in the previous race against the Cappuccino. Man that guy is a lot faster than he seems." Keiichi commented while throwing a look at the parking slot where Chang's NSX had been parked.