Chapter 2: Learn the Ropes

Nikki had driven me to a small parking lot, where a fat guy in a red hawaiian type shirt was waiting, along with 3 cars near him. Apparently one of these 3 is going to be mine soon, real soon.

We got out of the car, and the guy came over. "Hey, who's that at the wheel?"

"Doesn't matter." Nikki replied, then turning to me, "Pick one. Darius made all these cars available to you."

"Hey, if there are 3 cars, then does that mean I get one? I mean, I'm partial to the one with the sweet rims!" The guy looked over to one of the cars. Unfortunately, he was blocking my view from them at the moment.

"Just make sure the tanks are full."

"Right... I'M THE MONKEY!" And with that, the guy got out of my way, giving me the first look at my selection.

"Okay... a '67 Camaro SS, an RX-8 (thoughts: reminds me of Mia...), or an Alpha Romeo Brera? How'd that get here?" I said, talking to myself. Eventually, I decided to choose the Brera, intrugued by the design of the car.

"Nice. You've got some tastes, don't you? Heh, well there goes the sweet rims..." That same guy, Monkey I guess, sighed.

"Hey, why don't you go take it for a test drive, make sure you've got what you want. I've called some friends to make sure you don't get lonely on the track," Nikki said as I started the ignition on the red Brera.

The 'friends' Nikki brought to help me not be lonely in the test drive ended up just being her in the GT, Monkey in the Camaro (he said he liked muscle over Jap ricers, making me a little angry about the rice comment, but he was understandable), and some other chick in a green Nissan 350Z. After the 4 of us got around the 'track' (really, city streets), Nikki came over the radio in the car, saying to follow her.

"Okay, crews are a big part of building your rep and gaining new territory in the city. There are 3 kinds of driver: blockers, drafters, and scouts. I'm going to be your drafter for the moment. Drafters let you get their slipstream and get a boost of speed. Here, I'll be your drafter." I drove behind her through the straigh we were on. "Good, now when you feel like it, tell me, and I'll ge out of the way and slingshot you forwards."

"Okay... now!" I said, and Nikki turned to the side, and I flew forwards.

"So, you're learning... okay, next, blockers are like cruise missiles on your team. They don't mind putting dents on their ride to put another racer out of commission for you. Monkey's going to be your blocker, and I'll be the opponent. Just give him the signal, and he'll go. Try it now."

"Monkey, take her out!" I said, and Moneky began to target Nikki's GT like, as Nikki had said, a cruise missile, until he finally was next to her, and he PITted her car, sending it into a spin. Thankfully, she recovered quickly, and with the GT, she was back next to me in 5 seconds flat.

"Now for the final crew member type. Scouts are like having an extra set of eyes on the road. They'll find the shortcuts ahead of you and use them. Also, they can put these shortcuts on the map for you to see as you drive. But while the other 2 member types only can use their abilities once or twice a race, Scouts are pretty much working for you the entire way. Go ahead, let Rachel do her thing."

"Err... okay..." I said tentatively, and Rachel, the 350Z driver, took off, going through the track's shortcuts, and then displaying them on my radar for me.

"Okay, that's it. You already ready to take the streets back. As for us, we've got to go and get back to the garage. It's a mess, and we don't need you around to help us..."

Nikki's crew then pulled away from my car and drove in the direction of their garage. Unfortunately, they had hid the location from me at the time, so I just drove around, hoping to find some sort of challenge to wait the time before they finished cleaning the garage.