On the road.

At this time of the year, one would expect to see probably caravans and mobile homes littering the interstates and highways leading out of the major metropolitan areas. It was vacation season and families in their big vans, SUVs, and mobile homes and even the occasional tour bus every now and then representing the higher-ups of society, all of which were headed out into the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Somewhere in New Mexico, on Interstate 40, a large RV containing a modest family of five was on their way to Arizona was cruising at 60 mph. Inside the dad was driving, the mom was seated in the passenger seat trying to make sense of the map, the eldest teen brother was playing a PSP, the preteen daughter was busy reading some fashion magazine, and the youngest brother was playing with a couple of toy cars on the table.

On his right hand he had red toy Ferrari Enzo and on the other hand he had a blue Ford GT. The boy made engine sounds with his mouth as he pushed and pulled the two toy cars on the table pretending they were on a track, racing.

"Raaaaaaawwwwww, raaawwwwwwww, screee! Rawww, booooosch!"

The Ford GT just bumped into the Enzo and the Italian supercar just flipped and crash on the side of the track.

Meanwhile, in the front, mom was discussing with dad about where to go next.

"I say we stop by the Phoenix Art Museum," said the mom.

"Fine, but not before we see the Grand Canyon," replied the dad.

"But we already saw, the Grand Canyon, Dad," said the daughter. "We saw it like every time we go on vacation to Aunt Linda's"

"Yeah, sure. But I just never get tired of seeing it."

"How about the Phoenix Zoo?" suggested the mom.

"Mom, we're already headed for San Diego," said the eldest son, looking up from his game. "They got the best zoos there. Let's skip Pheonix."

"Well, there has to be a few more things to see in Phoenix. This is the first time we're taking this route."

"Rrrrraaaaaaw, BOOOOOOMMM!!" The Ford GT just slammed into the wall and exploded in a fiery blast.

"Honey, don't make such loud sounds when you play," said the mom to the youngest child.

"Alright…" said the boy with a bit of a pout.

The two parents resumed their discussion. However, they were again soon distracted by the sound of noisy car engines. The mother turned from her seat to look at her youngest child.

"Honey, I asked you not to be so loud, didn't I?"

"That's not me, mom."

The engine sounds continued to get louder and louder, and the whole of the family started to notice. The boy pulled aside the curtains on the big window to look outside. He was just in time to see and hear a blur of color and sound zoomed pass by. The dad was also surprised when what looked like a bright orange sports car drove by so fast that it shook his side mirror.

By then the whole family in the RV had their attention grabbed. The continued to look out the front of the windshield following the orange car as is disappeared in the distance. They were again surprised when it was soon followed by a bright pink sports car that zoomed by equally fast, followed by a black and blue four-dour sports saloon, then a bright purple muscle car, then a black European hatchback.

After those five cars passed by, the family was again surprised when what looked like a very big Cadillac Escalade also zoomed by the RV like it had a rocket in the engine.

"Cool!!!" exclaimed the young boy.

A minute and a mile later, ahead of the RV, the unusual caravan consisting of Alex's S15, Suki's S2000, Kate's Impreza, Rome's 'Cuda, Jimmy's Golf, and Tej's new ride, a brand new 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV which was sitting on a set of 24" chromed-out AF131 model Asanti rims and was painted in a special custom Louie Vuitton patterned two-tone paintjob with a base colors of dark leather brown which fades to a dark mustard yellow at the back.

With just 10 days left till the official start of Ultimate Street, the gang has now set out for Las Vegas and were just crossing the State of Arizona, headed for Flagstaff where they'll spend the night, hopefully.

For the most part, he gang was enjoying the open road. Alex in particular loved travelling in the open road and wanted a break from inner city driving for a while. This trip was the perfect opportunity for him to stretch his legs as well as his engine. With Ultimate Race looming, they had spent quite some time prepping their cars giving them all needed tune-ups to ensure the cars will be in perfect form when the competition started.

Finally, Alex thought. Finally, his car will get a chance to prove what its worth. And in turn he will get a chance to prove himself for what he's worth.

His in-car CB radio bleeped to life with Tej's voice. "Yo! How long till we get there, man? Over."

Alex mildly laughed at that. He had a feeling Tej wouldn't appreciate this road trip. He picked up the radio. "What's the matter, Tej? Getting bored of your company? Over.

Inside the Escalade, Tej looked towards his passenger and rear seats. Aside from him, the Escalade was occupied by four very young, very attractive women who smiled at him and giggled. They were Suki's friends and, as of the moment, the Wyldcardz's official service crew, responsible for keeping the cars in top conditions as best they can. Each of them have been around cars long enough to know what makes an engine tick.

The girl in the passenger seat was a young black woman with big hair named Melissa; Mel for short. She was in charge of the S15 Silvia. Seated at the farthest right of the rear seat was a young looking Asian girl named Mei who was in charge of the Impreza (much to Kate's insistence). The last two girls were identical twins named Ashley and and Sherry and the only way you can tell them apart was from the fact that Ashley always wore something blue and Sherry always wore something green. Ashley was in charge of the S2000 while Sherry was in charge of the 'Cuda.

Tej turned back to his radio. "That's not what I mean man. It's just that a brother can't take this heat for long, brah."

"Man, I thought you were from Miami?"

"Dry heat, boy! My 'fro don't do too well in Arizona."

"Oh, C'mon buddy. This is nothing! We're not even in Nevada yet, man."

"Something, I ain't looking forward to, I'll tell you that."

Suki's voice came up on the radio. "Relax Tej. Flagstaff's like twenty miles away."

"The hell is in Flagstaff anyway?"

"Well, Jimmy always said he wanted to see the Grand Canyon."

Jimmy's voice suddenly cracked onto the radios and replied in a play childish voice. "Pweas, daddy, let's go see the Gwand Canyon."

The rest of the crew got a good laugh at that. Jimmy was tagging along as the crew's chief mechanic who would take care of all the cars with the assistance of the four girls Suki brought along. Everyone knew that his mechanical skills were the best in Miami and that if any of these cars broke down it was up to him to bring them back to life. No other mechanic the others knew of can do that.

The group continued to drive on. They reached Flagstaff in a few minutes.

Flagstaff was little city located smack dab in the middle of the state of Arizona, known mainly for being in close proximity to many natural and a few historic landmarks, most famous of which is the Grand Canyon. The laid-back city was home to only about 100,000 people, not much compared to other major metropolitan areas. During vacation season, it's normal for this place to be flooded by tourists.

The team had planned to spend the afternoon at Flagstaff, gather supplies, have the cars checked out, and set off the next morning.

As soon as they entered the town the first thing they looked for a was a restaurant. They've been travelling for up to six hours straight and their cars weren't the only ones that needed to be replenished. They found a quaint little stake house and all of them ordered some of that prime, grade A beef that the Midwest seems to be so famous for. As they ate, they chatted about things to come.

"Can't believe we're actually going to Ultimate Street, at last!" said Kate excitedly.

"You're really looking forward to this, aren't you?" asked Jimmy.

"Hell, yeah. You have no idea how long we've been trying to get in this."

"What about this Virgil character? I don't really trust this dude."

"Oh, don't worry about him," said Alex.

"How can you say that?" asked Suki. "I mean, from the impression I got from when we first met was that guy was a total dick."

"Oh he's a dick, no doubt. He'll more often than not try to sleaze his way out or into anything he wants and couldn't care less who he gets involved. But I know the guy. All that bravado is mostly for show. He likes to act badass to keep his would-be enemies guessing. Truth is he's no different from an ordinary gangster. He just drives better. But still, he does have some honor. If he didn't, I would've been long dead by now."

"Was he a friend of yours back then?"

Kate snorted. "As if. Alex and Virgil have been buttin' heads since they met. I don't know. It's a 'rival' thing."

"Guess, that Virgil character was just looking for someone to run against as an equal, is all," said Tej. "I've met a lot of those in my time."

"We can trust him for now at least. He wants us to win as much as we do."

At that moment Alex had finished his meal while the rest of the group barely finished half of theirs. "Well, I'm done," he declared.

"You sure eat fast," commented Rome.

"He's always been this way," said Kate. "He eats too fast. He drives too fast…Hey Suki, anything else you can think of which he's too fast at?"

Suki nearly spat out her mashed potatoes and the rest of group tried to hold back their own cackling laughter. Alex wore an annoyed, but bemused look on his face.

"Real funny, Kate," he retorted. "Whatever. We're supposed to be here for resupply anyway, right? There was a garage a couple of blocks up the road I spotted on the way here. I'm gonna go check it out."

"Alright, man. Just comeback here in 'bout ten, kay?" said Tej.

"Got it."

Alex made a bee line for the door leaving the rest of group to their meal.

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Outside.

Alex enjoyed the fresh and open air of the small and quiet town. Nothing like what he was used to in the bustling cities. It was rare for him to go out of the cities even when he lived in Nevada. Every now and then he yearned to take a vacation in the countryside where things were a little less rushed. Looking around, he saw a few locals minding their own business not really bothering to give him a second glance. The people here are probably used to tourists, he thought.

It was less than a minute walk to the garage he saw earlier a couple of blocks away. He was sure he spotted a store that sold some oils and lubricants as well. His car was running low on high performance lubricant so he needed to get some before the group left in the morning.

As he approached the shop he noticed something that wasn't there the first time they passed by. A set of four cars were now parked in front of the store. Not just any cars. They were all high-performance tuner cars. All four had their engines still running.

Alex stared, fascinated by the four cars that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The first car he spotted closest to him was a red Ford Mustang…no wait, this wasn't an ordinary Mustang. Then he spotted the "GT500" decal on the side skirt and knew this car was a Shelby-tuned GT500 Mustang. He moved in further and spotted a blue BMW M3. He looked closer and spotted a "CSL" badge. Another great performer, he thought, one he used to drool over when looking at car magazines when he was younger.

Next to those to was a Toyota Supra, also obviously tuned with its myriad of aftermarket stickers and striking graphics. Alex briefly listened to each car as e passed them and he could tell through his specially honed hearing that each engine was a masterpiece of engineering. But it was the last car on the row that got his attention the most.

He looked on, fascinated by the silver-and-blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. He remembered he used to have a Skyline back in the day, an old R32 which they used as a demo car. Back then, he never really understood the hype over this car, with it being known as the best tuner in the world. He finally understood when he got his hands on one himself.

The car was a technical marvel, not just mechanically but also electronically. A Skyline's settings can be easily tuned through the use of the car's advanced engine management system earning it the infamous moniker of being a "Playstation on wheels". Tune-ups and adjustments took up only a few minutes while in the old days even small tune-ups and adjustments required a full engine rebuild.

On top of that, the car was tough. Really tough. Nissan initially gave the car an engine rated at around 280 hp at most but with the GT-R they put it in a body and chassis that could easily handle four times that power. You don't go into street racing without hearing about the infamous Midnight Club from Japan and their crazy 300 kph antics on Tokyo's famous Shotu Expressway (more famously known as the Wangan route) with the Skyline as the most popular car of choice.

After he himself, got his first taste of the Skyline, Alex finally understood all the legends about it. One legend in particular fascinated him not just because it was unbelievable but also because it was true. He found it quite hilarious that the car was so good that it was actually so good that it was banned in certain motorsport leagues because it kept winning too much.

He walked up the front of the R34 and listened intently to the engine. He had heard Skyline engine's before but this was different. The tones seemed sharper somewhat than a regular Skyline. This engine almost sounded…well, like a racing engine. A professionally assembled racing engine and not some bolt-on job by an amateur tuner. That's when her remembered those limited edition R34's with the N1 engines. Could this be one of them? He listened to it longer with closed eyes, allowing himself to be lost in the melody of the engine running idle.

"Can I help you?" asked somebody.

Alex snapped out of his trance and found himself being stared at strangely by a young-looking blonde haired guy. Alex felt a bit embarrassed. This used to happen quite a bit when he would just zone out admiring someone else's car.

Alex slowly and politely backed away from the Skyline to relax the guy who he assumed to be the owner. "Don't worry bro, I wasn't gonna steal it or anything."

"Well, you looked real fascinated by my ride, though."

"I was really fascinated."

"It's just Nissan," said the blonde guy with a slightly bemused look on his face.

"Yeah, but it's a Nissan with an N1 engine and what I'm estimating to be around 650 bhp at the least."

The blonde guy looked genuinely surprised. "How'd you know that?"

"I could tell by the sound."

The blonde guy simply stared. Alex was used to that look by now. "Let's just say I spend way too much time around cars, dude."

The guy switched to an amused look, not the kind of look where he was laughing at Alex but instead it looked like he seemed to be admiring Alex slightly. "What else could you tell by the sound?"

"Not much. Custom engine block, pistons and camshaft. Bore is about 86, 87 mm probably and the stroke is about 76. Twin ball-bearing turbos. Exhaust manifold seems to be custom as well. The exhaust pipe is wider than normal and the muffler is definitely custom. There also seems to be a new fuel filter. The burn rate sounds pretty sharp. All in all it's a pretty damn good assembly."

The Skyline's owner wore a genuine look of astonishment. "Wow…you sure you don't want to steal my car?"

Alex snickered. "Nah I got my own. Don't look so amazed, man. I'm more amazed with you, having something like this. I was worried you'd turn out to be a ricer."

"Aw, hell no. I ain't no ricer."

"Thank God for that. This is a beautiful machine."

"What about you then?"

"Huh?"

"What's your ride like?"

"You want me to tell you about my ride."

The guy walked up to the front of his car and tapped his hood. "Well you seemed to have figured out my ride. It's only fair I should know about yours a little bit."

Alex smirked. As Kate would attest to, he loved showing off whenever an opportunity arrised. "My car? It's '99 model Nissan Silvia."

The blonde guy looked somewhat impressed.

"With a VQ35HR engine swap."

The blonde guy looked quite impressed.

"With custom twin turbo."

The blonde guy looked very impressed. "Sounds like a mean ride."

Alex smirked proudly. You have no idea, he thought. Just then, three other people came out of the shop carrying boxes of miscellaneous items, fluids, and oils for their cars. They noticed their friend entertaining a bit of company. The oldest looking among them called out. "Yo, Brian! Who's your pal?"

The blonde guy, who Alex now assumes to be named Brian, turned to his friends. "Just a local."

"Oh, I'm not local," said Alex.

Brian turned back toward him. "Is that right?"

"I'm just here on…a little business trip of sorts."

"Funny, so am I. You gonna be here in Flagstaff long?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm just doing some shopping now. Now that I've mentioned it, does that place back there have any good oils," Alex asked to all of them in general.

"Actually, yeah, they got some pretty high-quality stiff in there." Answered the younger man in a slight British accent as he walked back to his car, the Toyota Supra.

"Well, we're heading out right now," said Brian. "We got a few more things to do before heading for Vegas."

Alex was obviously surprised at that. "You're going to Las Vegas?"

"Yeah. That's where my business trip is going."

Alex took a second to process this information. This guy had a car that could tear off the asphalt at any race track and he was currently going to Las Vegas for some kind of business venture. What are the odds? Alex slowly smirked. He knew he just found himself a new rival. And this one was most likely worth triple his weight in petrol.

"Yo, Brian, let's move!" called out the woman as she climbed into her BMW M3.

Brian made a motion to get into his own car and prepare to set off. "Well, I gotta go. Too bad I couldn't see your ride as well. Sounds like something I'd wanna steal."

Alex grinned visibly. "Who knows? You might get to see it sooner than you think."

Brian was a little confused at that statement for a moment. Alex saw that. But then realization hit Brian and his expression slowly changed to a wry grin that matched Alex's own. At that very moment the two men saw eye-to-eye and knew what was possibly in store for the in the near future. Fate was playing with fire again. This time it was fire fueled by gasoline and black rubber.

"I never got your name, by the way," said Brian.

"It's Alex."

"Brian."

"See you in Vegas, Brian."

"I guess you might. Good luck."

Alex couldn't resist and playfully retorted. "Oh, I think you're the one who's gonna need more luck than me, buddy."

Brian laughed that off like Alex was a long time drinking buddy. He gave Alex one last nod and climbed into his car. Alex got out of the way as the four cars started to move out of the small dirt parking area in front of the auto shop. Brian's Skyline was the last to leave and as he did, he over-revved the engine as if to say, "see you later" to Alex who chuckled lightly at the gesture.

Now the stage was set again for Alex. He was finally seeing just what he had to look forward to in Vegas. He now knew that this was gonna be one of the most memorable portions of his life. And he was gonna give it his all. No holds barred, no quarter spared.

Funny, he thought. He faintly remembered that Suki once mentioned she used to know a guy named Brian.

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Author's note: Next chapter, the gang will arrive in Vegas and the real action can finally begin. To those of you wondering whether I'm gonna insert other characters from the movies, well to tell you the truth I don't know myself. Brian wasn't in the story when I originally thought it up but I wanted to insert him into the story in a way that worked for me. Same goes with the other characters. I'm currently exploring ways of maybe inserting Dom's character and even Sean. But it'll all depend on what I think will work well with the story.

In the meantime pls R&R.