Now that he had a car and a crew, it was time for Zane to be a part of Ventura's official underground races. Each new street racer was required to download the Underground app onto their phones to connect with the underground scene in their respective cities and to check in on racing news throughout the world. The app allowed racers to learn locations, routes, and have their own local reputation rankings. All they needed was to enter their handle, location, and which crew they were a part of if they had one.

Zane wasn't the most creative of people and couldn't figure out what to use as a handle. Like Snapchat, he wasn't going to be able to change it once he registered himself. He doubted that it was all that much of a big deal and, with a glance at his car's white paint, he went for something simple: WhtRngr. From there he got into his car and set off to meet up with Spike.

In truth, he was still adjusting to the pace of the whole race scene. Tonight was going to be his first time in a circuit race, one that began on a roll and would have 4 laps around the neighborhood. The app said that there would be a total of six people racing including Spike and himself.

Zane drove up the road, making a right turn before following a set of lights toward the spot. Spike had texted him about the spot where they'd be racing. While he still had a way to go with his civic, he needed the practice. After parking he saw Spike in his BMW M2, looking down at his phone.

"Hey Spike," said Zane as he parked next to his friend and rolled down the window.

"Wassup," Spike said before looking up briefly with an excited smile, "you seen this new video Magnus Walker put up on YouTube?"

"Not really, been busy. Work, the honda, all that shit." It was true, after testing with Amy, Zane's been using his downtime to improve his driving and his car, and the rest of the time he was either working or sleeping.

"Oh nice, nice. You went to see Amy, right? That's our go-to girl."

"Yeah. I mean, I did most of the work, but she helped me out too."

"That's wassup, she's a genius, Bro. But check this out: Dude, Magnus came HERE with his one of his custom Porsche 911s and set a whole bunch of time attacks that he's challenging anybody around to try and beat."

Spike sent Zane the video through his phone. After opening it, Zane saw the image of a man with long stringy hair, a worn trucker hat, and a massive beard. Zane could recall that this was Magnus Walker, the fashion designer, Porsche collector, and racing champion. He watched, as the British auto-icon spoke about how he'd pass through Ventura Bay now and then, setting a record or two with his Porsches, and was curious to see who was out there and willing to beat his times.

"You're thinking about trying that out?" Zane asked Spike as the video ended.

"Fuck yeah," Spike replied as he gave Zane a look as if the latter was dense. "This guy is like… Man, I can't even tell you. He's got a Porsche 911 for nearly every year from like, '64 to '73. And he's raced them all, AND he puts his own spin on them while keeping that classic feel and like…" he faltered for a moment to breathe, his eyes filled with excitement. "I wanna do that shit, but with BMWs. If I can bring that classic feel and put my own spin on it AND tear up the streets? Oh man… nobody can tell me shit. Not anybody in the streets and definitely nobody in the crew."

Zane listened to Spike, feeling his respect for the guy grow as he heard about what Spike was hoping to do one day. To be inspired and have a solid goal in mind was always admirable. Much like Amy, Spike had his ambitions, but Zane couldn't help but feel that nagging pang in his head as he remembered that he wasn't too sure about what he wanted to do as a racer. At the mention of the crew, he couldn't help but give Spike a look.

"They do give you a lot of shit," said Zane, "does it ever actually bother you?"

Spike paused for a moment, the passion in his eyes dying down at the question. He gave a shrug, "you don't get respect when you come on the scene in a brand-new luxury sports car. Pretty much everybody around here builds from the ground up, getting respect by tuning up hoopties and sleepers so they can record themselves gapping guys like me. The crew's cool about it now though, they just like to mess around is all."

"You sure?" asked Zane, "I mean… it's always cool to start from nothing but that's like, not an obligation or anything. I traded in a busted Buick for a Civic, I don't give a fuck how you got your ride. You got one, right?"

"Yeah," Spike looked down for a moment, his voice growing soft as he responded, "don't tell anyone this but… she's tricky sometimes. I've been looking into some shit to try and help me get better at driving her when I race."

"Word? That's pretty cool, let's hope it shows later on."

Both would have to end their conversation there as the time had come to race. All drivers pulled up at began their roll into the initial spot. Zane had bought a phone holder to place on his dashboard, displaying the directions to take from the Underground app. He glanced around as he checked to see what others were driving. Of course, there was Spike in his M2 and himself in his old Civic Type-R. Then there was a much newer Civic Si, a Volvo, a Subaru Impreza, and a Nissan GTR. The drivers all knew what was at stake: some street cred and a hefty amount of cash. Once they had all reached starting traffic light, the race had finally begun.

The first lap was somewhat safe for the six drivers. Zane and Spike were further in the back, moving to keep up with the others as they started to pick up speed. The Si and the GTR started to separate themselves as they switched gears to move up, making the first turn with ease as the other four followed. The next few turns in the lap were tricky for Zane as he struggled to figure out which gear he needed to stay in while he tried to keep up. If he was a gear too low, he'd fall behind. If he went up a gear or even timed it poorly, he would risk a collision. His hands were growing clammy on his steering wheel as he watched Spike start to move ahead of him, catching the Volvo and moving past it to challenge the Subaru. Zane felt a strange sort of pain seeing Spike drive so conservatively, that M2 should get him much further ahead, but Spike needs the experience. The final turn was them coming around the corner, Zane wanted to go to his fifth gear and try to get that past one of the cars. That extra boost can get him into fourth place already after one lap. However, he thought better of it and kept it safe. He made the right call as he was able to get into fourth place after all while the Volvo ahead of him oversteered and hit the stop sign.

Zane jumped after hearing the crunching sound for a moment. The brief glance at his rearview mirror showed the image of the car with the damaged headlight reversing and moving back to try and continue the race along with the bent stop sign. His breathing got heavy as he looked on for a moment more, he had to pay attention to his own driving. Everybody who raced knew the risks to this sort of hobby and the easiest way to avoid crashing is to never race in the first place. He shook off his rattled demeanor and gripped his steering wheel, making his way through the second lap. Even after passing the Volvo, he would still have the other five cars to catch.

His heart pounded as he closed in on the Civic Si, his focus returning as his well-timed shifting helped him catch up. While he and the driver both had Civics, he had an older Type-R while the other had a newer Si. However, Zane wasn't all that intimidated. The year didn't matter all that much, the Si was always going to be the Diet Coke to the Type-R's Cherry Coke. He closed in on the Si, waiting for the right turn as they were concluding the second. When the Si was about to slow down to avoid the bent stop sign, Zane took his chance by accelerating and running the bent sign over to get ahead. It came at the risk of his tires, but they held up. Halfway through the race and he was in fourth place, not too bad.

The third lap came with less progress, part of him wondered just what it took as he tried to catch up but was only able to stay back and watch as Spike challenged the GTR and the Impreza. Spike's M2 had no problems keeping up with the two cars so far. Spike seemed to gain on the Impreza by staying directly behind it during a long stretch of road and then as a turn came he'd quickly swerve, cutting off the Subaru driver and taking the second-place spot. Zane's eyes widened as he felt like he saw a professional move. Of course, the Impreza was a bit stunning by the move and stalled in speed, allowing Zane to catch up and even overtake it himself. It was an intense moment to watch and as Zane finished his third lap, now in third place, he'd realized that maybe he didn't give his friend enough credit. On top of that, maybe his first race with Spike was more of a fluke than he'd considered.

As he was working his way through the final lap, he was only able to catch glimpses of the top two drivers facing off. Spike must have found some confidence as he'd been keeping pace with the GTR when it came to the corners but always fell behind when the open straightaways came. Meanwhile, Zane was catching glances of the Subaru and Si both trying to rob him of a top-three spot. Not on his watch, he'd grown a little confident himself as he shifted into his fifth gear and relied on his handbrake for the turns as he'd shift between fourth and fifth gear for the remainder of the race. His FWD might have been holding him back as the Subaru was getting too close for comfort, but he was able to hold his lead long enough as he passed the final checkpoint and finish the race in third.

Zane came to a stop and pulled off to the side with the other cars before he let out a sigh of relief. His knees felt wobbly, his hands were tense, and he needed to catch his breath as he looked to find Spike. The swirling sensation of disappointment filled his stomach as he furrowed his brow, even if it was cool to be top three in his first actual race it still wasn't first. He had a long way to go but at least he had experienced. With his placing being logged into the app he was not only able to get a bit of the cash but his reputation, his REP, had increased. He lied back, feeling the damp cotton from his armpits sweating. He didn't realize how intense this sort of thing could be. And even after all that happened, including the accident, he felt like he could do it all again once he caught his breath.

"Fuck Man," Spike said in an irritated tone as he pulled up next to Zane. It was clear that he wasn't all that psyched about being in second despite finishing in the top three. "I had him; I swear to fuckin' God that I had him. Fuckin' All-Wheel Drive motherfucker..."

"Sorry, Man. I saw that shit too, fucking wild. That All-Wheel Drive is a bitch though. Takes some serious power to catch it." Suddenly, Zane would hear his phone vibrate as he got a text in the crew's group chat.

"Yeah, Man…" Spike obviously got the message as well and was checking it for a moment. "We're gonna have to bounce. Crashes bring attention, attention means cops, and they probably want an explanation for that stop sign. We gotta go."

"Yeah." Zane glanced at his phone and checked to see that they were being told to meet up at a place called The Longhorn.

"C'mon," said Spike, "let's get some gas and I'll show you the bar. Hope you like Pool."