FOREWORD: I, HashiriyaGDB, am submitting this Initial D facfic on behalf of Midnight Dorifuta, the author of this fanfic and a fellow user on the Initial D World Forums. The only things I've done to this is correct some (if not all) the typos.
All trademarks are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter 8: A Brand New Struggle
...Sometime in the near future...
Akiyuki would set down his can of Diet Pepsi on the hood of his Starionm looking slightly awestruck at the feminine blonde-haired "magazine queen" of street racers in Tokyo. She wasn't the fastest, per se, but she tried her hardest to be the sexiest... along with her V8-powered Z31 dream, all red, sporting T-Tops, a decklid spoiler, and sawblade-like rims... It was known as the SS, or the Sohryu Special, a car that started life as an Japanese-market 1988 Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Shiro Special, then taken to an extreme level that was well beyond suited for mountain pass racing. Custom built from radiator to rear half-shafts, its powertrain underpinnings were essentially those of a last-year (1995, if you're counting) ZR-1 Corvette, with one exception; beyond that, John Lingenfelter, Corvette tuner extrodinare, went to town on the dual overhead-cam LT5, twin-turbocharging it to somewhere upwards of 700 rear-wheel horsepower. It was crude, heavy, and viciously fast. But it wasn't the fastest here.
The two were perched on the hoods of their cars, staring back at one another, beside a pair of BP pumps that were filling their cars' tanks with high-octane. It was just outside of Tokyo, and just off the "Tokyo Wangan", the highway that offered insane speeds leading into an even more insane traffic-filled "City course", something unheard-of to the American-razed Suzaki.
"The Phantom Z?", Akiyuki replied, scratching his chin a little. "I think I might have actually heard of such a car - but it was in America..."
"Then it wasn't the Phantom Z, dude. Trust me, when you'll see it, you won't believe it - my old boss, Misato Katsuragi, she used to be in constant pursuit of that Z, but traffic always managed to get in the way, or she ran out of fuel, or something dumb like that kept her from erasing it from her rearview.", the red-haired girl said, shrugging a bit.
"Team boss... say, hey, what's your name anyways, miss? You've done a good job keeping that Z looking like it rolled out of the showroom. I love the look of those 80's cars.", Akiyuki said, in a bit of a complimentitive gesture.
"The name's Asuka... Asuka Langley sohryu, but just call me Asuka... or... if you wanna be a sweetheart, Asuka-chan." With a wink, she traced her name, and a heart, in the air with her index finger.
"Asuka will do fine...", Akiyuki said, with a bit of a nervous chuckle.
"Whatever suits, Akiyuki. Now, the legend is, no matter how far you travel or how fast you go, the Z will always somehow be even faster. It has to be more of a fact than a legend, though, considering my Z can't keep up with it.", Askuka said, looking a bit embarassed of the fact.
Akiyuki eyed the car again - the beauty looked bone stock, down to the exhaust outlits. Only the tires looked agressive. "Well, then again, I'm sure this isn't an ordinary Z we're dealing with, I mean, I'll bet its VG30-"
"It's not a Z32. It's an S30, Akiyuki. And my Z is far from stock. Would you like to see for yourself?" Giving Suzaki a bit of a deadpan stare, her face blushed red a little - okay, it was one thing not to know Asuka by name, but to not know her at all!? Not even the car...? Now that, was huge. Everybody in Tokyo who knew shit about cars knows Asuka. Her name's everywhere, and her Z is even more than that.
"...S30!? A 240Z? Well... uhm, sure, why not?" Akiyuki hopped off the Starion's hood, walking over to the front of the Z32, as Asuka revealed the car's engine before his eyes.
"..."
Asuka smirked a small bit, the grin growing in width as Suzaki's jaw seemingly became slightly unhinged. The exposed spark plug wires, and the "CORVETTE" spelled on the side were dead giveaways, along with the complex intake manifold. No doubt about it, this was the at stock, 400-horsepower, Lotus designed, Mercury Marine-built engine of Glory, the powerplant that made the ZR-1 Corvette the Top Dog of all Corvettes in every way, shape, and form. ...and then, he saw the turbochargers, and the intercoolers, all this crammed so tightly under the hood you'd literally have to remove the fenders to do serious work. It was an A-class effort, a true thing of beauty - although a mechanic's nightmare at that.
"Jesus Christ... twin-turbo LT5... the output must be..."
"Staggering? I know. I have a hard time keeping the rears hooked up in third with this rig.", Asuka said, replying with a grin before closing the hood. "It's the fastest Z32 in Tokyo. No if's, and's, or but's. - ...and it still somehow gets surpassed by the Phantom Z and Misato's old car."
"Insane...", Akiyuki replied, not even concerned about what Misato seemed to be driving or perhaps, used to drive. "Just insane... and nobody at all has ever kept up with either of the two cars?"
"Well - two people have, in the same car. They're probably more legendary than the Z itself."
"Two?"
-
It took Akiyuki everything he got to keep with Sudou through the first round of hairpins, the car sliding freely around the tight corners, Suzaki in slight disbelief to the improvements between not only the Evo III's performance, but also the ability of the driver. Both cars approached the 5th hairpin with the same familiar "bang bang", The Starion driver floored at the car's sheer agility. This was going to be no easy win, that was for up was another left-hander, and Suzaki observed from his Gran Turismo-like view the almost unnatural response of the Evo III. His lips cracked in a small grin, Akiyuki chuckling with delight.
"So that's the whole rave about the new Active Yaw Control system in the Mitsubishi WRC cars... Subaru might find themselves horribly outclassed if they don't come up with a scheme in return to combat this..."
Another hairpin followed, by another short straight, and another hairpin, and naother short straight. This constant repeating motion, with almost equal distance between corners, was a challenge for just about anyone, but the two Mitsubishis that were locked bumper-to-bumper in downhill combat, seemed to tackle the course very gracefully.
"Still with me, huh, kid?", Kyoichi replied, chuckling a bit. "I'll give you this much credit - it's a feat keeping up with me. Fujiwara was able to block, but technically, you have it harder, since FR doesn't have the corner-exit acceleration of the well-tuned Evolution...", Kyoichi said to himself, on eye on his rearview mirror as they headed for the first extreme-angle downhill corner, something that would catch both Sudou's and Suzaki's eye, but in totally different fashions.
As the Evo III broke into an unusually agressive drift, from the corner of his eye he caught a flame erupting from the Starion's muffler, along with the bang-bang of the anti-lag device.
"So the Starion has a misfiring system as well... an FR with misfiring system... how novel..."
But Suzaki, he saw there was almost no space whatsoever from one side of the guardrail to the other, causing him to blink a little, suprised. "If I altered my approach to just a little bit earlier... I wonder where the best spot to try it would be."
On the corner's exit, though, the Starion closed a small bit of the gap between the two cars that formed. No, it wasn't the Starion had the better line... it was the power difference between the two cars. The Starion had more acceleration - thee was no doubt about it.
-
...back to the future...
"It sounds unreal... everything from the color of his eyes to the sheer ability of the GT. I mean, is this all honestly real stuff you're speaking?", Akiyuki said, looking downright - amazed.
"It's as real as it gets, Akiyuki-san. The longer you stay in Tokyo, the more you'll become shocked at everything about the city. It's the greatest city on Earth - and also, the one filled with the most secrets, the city with the most action... everything about it." Asuka explained, fixing her hair into a pair of ponytails.
"Anything else?", he asked, tilting his head to a side a bit as she opened the door of her Z - the door opening slightly out and then slicing up like a sicssor, Lamborghini-style. The only other visual modification the car had, aside from the paint.
"Not really. Just take it easy, and try not to get yourself involved in a car battle. It ain't exactly racing for normal humans." Asuka closed the scissor door and climbed in, starting the engine, just as Akiyuki caught her.
"Ch... chotto!"
Asuka looked at him through the window, rolling it down as the LT5 rumbled at a rather beastly purr. "What is it?", she asked.
"What happened to Misato's Porsche? You talk about it like she sold it."
"She's dead. She died back in August, 1996, along with her old nemesis, Dorothy Bricklin."
Akiyuki remained silent as Asuka looked forward and rolled up the window, slowly driving off.
"Both died... in a car crash, perhaps?", he said to himself, being left to wonder.
-
It was clear now in Akiyuki's memory what the layout of the course was. If he guessed right, he would have a chance to at least get a nose in on the Evolution - getting bumper-to-bumper with it was easy, but getting beside it would be tricky... unless Akiyuki could pull a trick out of his sleeve. And he was damn ready to, too.
A quick series of non-stop-hairpins would be up next as Akiyuki finessed the brakes, throttle, and steering. 1, 2, 3, 4 hairpins, continuous... and on the fourth, he made a little tweak to his approach, diving into the apex early... way early Cutting the corner, he was able to literally jump off the inside of the hairpin - Kyoichi, startled at the car's change of course, swerving so that the roof of his Evo doesn't get crushed in. And at once, the cars were side-by-side, then the Starion was able to round the next relatively wide corner a nose ahead of the Evo - the Evo gaining noticably through the corner and the next hairpin though, almost clearing the green RWD.
"What a reckless move!", Kyoichi shouted, as the cars drag-raced down the somewhat long straightaway. "That could cause so much damage to the underbody of the car that even I wouldn't risk it... but I've gotta admit, you have balls... but, shit... will you be able to pass on this straightaway?"
Two seconds later, the question was answered as the Starion tucked to the inside and got firmly in the middle of the road, making it possible for Kyoichi to counter-attack, for now, at least. "Damn you, kid...", he muttered, "You've definately got the nerve - and the skill - of a WRC star. But pride s pride, and it's a blow to my pride to be overtaken on my home turf... I won't let you escape just yet!"
But it was pointless. On the quick double-hairpin, Akiyuki balanced out left-foot braking to match the anti-lag system and neuturalize lag without downshifting, the G54B's immense amount of low-to-mid-range torque proving vital off the exit. There was one more series of hairpins, but on each one, it was the same story - Sudou would draw in, just about ready to attack, and tuck in, getting a tiny leap off the corner's exit before having the door shut as the Starion's rear tires hooked up and propelled it forward.
They didn't even have to pass the third bridge to decide who was the victor... Kyoichi let off the gas just before the lane-merging corner, the fire in his eyes dying a little."What the hell...", he muttered, "That car puts its power to the ground better than Nakazato could muster in his 32."
-
Akiyuki was about 15 miles away from Shibuya, cruising down a lonesome freeway at midnight. Riding the middle lane, he would pass through a long, sweeping bend, and then enter a long-ish tunnel. Asuka's words still rang in his head.
Try not to get yourself involved in a car battle. It ain't exactly racing for normal humans.
What does she mean?, he thought to himself. Windows rolled down, he was enjoying the echoey sound of his SOHC piece of work, listening to the mechanical symphony of its own that it created... definately a sound unique from smaller displacement DOHC I4's... but then also, a pair of engine notes.
"Six-cylinder... both of them..." And headlights, fast growing brighter. "And they're freakign smoking... should I?"
His right foot let off the gas for a second, his left hand twitching to click on the blinker to get in the slow lane - but instead, firmly gripped the steering wheel as the gas pedal was slammed to the floorboard, the G54B being pushed for all its worth, the cars behind him closing in, and the speed rising. Third gear, fourth gear... he was at 5,000 RPM's in fourth, 225 km/h, as the two cars blew by on either side.
"S30!? And... what's that, a Toyota 2000GT!?"
Akiyuki grinned, even as the cars seemed to pas shim like he was moving still, he himself now intent to hang with them as long as possible.
"Hot damn, it is a 2000GT... but could that be the so-called Phantom Z?"
He even laughed out a little, somewhat sinisterly as something inside his head clicked, the tachometer approaching 7,000 RPM before he grabbed for fifth, seeing the two cars ahead brake heavy for traffic that wasn't too far infront oof the pair of chasing cars and the trailing Starion.
"Oh, man... this could get fun..."